


Shenanigans at Hope's Peak

by Millixi77



Category: Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: (all the ships are eventual) - Freeform, (oof), Fluff and Humor, incubus au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-01
Updated: 2019-07-17
Packaged: 2019-12-30 12:02:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 42
Words: 24,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18314897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Millixi77/pseuds/Millixi77
Summary: Or, what happens when you mix Hope's Peak with incubi and succubi.>>>Please note, I got the idea for this au from CrazyNekoChan's headcanons for an incubus au over on her Tumblr. I'm piggybacking on at least 90% of her ideas, lol, plese check her out!





	1. Chapter 1

_ CHAPTER ONE _

Whether one was human or a sex demon, the sound of an alarm in the morning was something that nobody liked hearing. 

 

And with that thought in mind, Makoto smacked the alarm, getting the annoying noise to shut off and promptly tumbled out of bed onto the floor. Just his luck, he guessed. 

 

He yawned and stretched, untangling himself from his blanket in record time. When there was a one in three chance that you'd wake up after falling to the floor, you usually learned to mitigate the impact, and he wasn't dense. Not  _ that  _ dense, anyway. 

 

He barely spared a glance at his alarm clock before grabbing his toothbrush and toothpaste and walking into the bathroom. Even as he started brushing his teeth, he felt that flicker of hunger that was just a little more persistent than usual. 

 

He'd have to feed today. 

 

Being an incubus didn't mean that he was sex-crazed  _ all  _ the time. What it did mean was that he tried to avoid that at most costs. 

 

What the myths didn't cover was that sex wasn't the only way for his kind to feed. It was just the way that made them satiated for the longest. He could just touch someone and get some energy from that. Of course, a single touch wouldn't get much energy. But multiple, prolonged touches going gradually build up enough energy to last him throughout the day. 

 

Besides feeding purposes, he liked physical contact a lot, and hadn't tried to hide it ever since he came to Hope's Peak. Random hugs and handholding was a staple thing with a lot of his classmates, so it wasn't like he would be coming out of left field with this. 

 

He idly wondered who he'd be able to talk to today. He might run into Hina and Sakura exercising some time later. And maybe Celeste. For everyone else, it would be a toss-up between them being available and them being busy. 

 

Byakuya and Kyoko, in particular, had been pretty busy for a few days now. He wondered why… maybe they were researching something? They were pretty good friends, after all.

 

But for now, he’d focus on getting ready to face the day. He didn't know why, but he felt as if today might be a bit more intensive than the mundane beginning would have him think. He wasn’t sure about what precisely could go wrong, but knowing his luck, he didn’t want to take any chances.

 

With a talent like his, he had to trust his instincts. It wasn’t like anything particularly life-changing could happen today, but it was nice to be prepared… 


	2. Chapter 2

_CHAPTER TWO_

Makoto didn’t get two steps out of his room before something strange happened.

 

It didn’t directly happen to him, specifically, but it ran past him. Very quickly. So quickly that if he’d been three steps out of his room, he’d have probably been trampled by the force of two of his seniors trampling over him without a care in the world.

 

He squinted, trying to make out who the two people were. Neon pink hair that hurt to look at, coupled with an equally eye-stinging jumpsuit, getting followed by a someone who looked as if they had over-invested themselves into making a goth outfit…

 

Kazuichi and Gundham?

 

Sure, the didn’t explicitly like each other, but wasn’t the chasing a little unwarranted?

 

“Y-You didn’t see anything, I swear!”

 

“Do not try to deceive me, mortal! For I, the Overlord of Ice, can very clearly remember what I saw!”

 

“No, you fucking _cannot_!”

 

“Yes, I indeed can!”

 

And with that, they both went out of view.

 

Makoto blinked. What had _that_ been about? He had no idea. Something told him that there was a chance that he could be seeing things like that pretty often for a little while more, but he wasn’t sure if that feeling was accurate or not.

 

His puzzling was quickly broken by a small pang of hunger. Right! He could think of the reason for that later, he kind of had something to do. He might not have been a detective, but he might be able to piece things together later, right?

 

Maybe.

 

But for now, he kind of had to get to work. Besides, he _did_ want to talk to his friends! And with that, he took off.

 

(And might or might not have come close to losing one of his shoes in the process.)


	3. Chapter 3

_CHAPTER THREE_

One long morning later, Makoto was barely managing to keep standing on his two feet. He knew that Asahina and Sakura were very diligent when it came to exercise, but he was either weaker than he thought, or they were very, very energetic today.

 

He panted, leaning on Sakura as he tried to catch his breath.

 

“I… never knew that… running in the morning could be so stressful,” he managed to say in between pants.

 

“Well,” Hina said, “we kind of ran a lot this time. But on the plus side, you've gotten a lot better when it comes to endurance! Last year, you'd have gotten tired after two laps, much less five!”

 

Makoto groaned. “Don't remind me!”

 

Sakura chuckled, patting him on the head. “Strength comes with training, remember. You've already grown a lot stronger than you were before.”

 

Makoto sighed, feeling a bit better. It was kind of hard for him to get energy this way, but it was the safest way that he could actually get it right now.

 

It was interesting just how much energy they had. Between the two of them, he could get enough energy to last for a few days. They were a bit touchy-feely, but it wasn't something that he didn't like. It actually made it easier for him to get some energy from them, though he tried not to do it often. He didn't want to drain anyone completely or leave them feeling weak or unable to put practice into their talents.

 

That last bit was especially true for both Sakura and Aoi. They had talents that relied heavily on their physical strength, so he tried to make sure that he didn't take too much energy from them at a time.

 

He closed his eyes for a bit, taking stock of his energy level. Thankfully, it was at a good level now. So he opened his eyes, stopped leaning on Sakura and stretched, letting out a big yawn.

 

“Well, you both have a point,” he said. “At least I've improved. But I'm ready to relax for the rest of the day.”

 

“Remember to come back tomorrow!” Hina said.

 

“I will!”


	4. Chapter 4

_CHAPTER FOUR_

Shuuichi, on the other hand, wasn't doing so well that morning. He’d known that it hadn’t been a good idea to put off his feeding for so long, but at the time, it had seemed like the more reasonable choice.

 

His class was, to say the least, the living embodiment of chaotic evil, and he didn’t want to accidentally contribute to that by making anyone more tired than they should. Tiredness could lead to either comical events or serious injuries, and he was too afraid of making anyone get hurt.

 

Or was that meant to be that he was afraid of hurting people? Or making sure they didn’t get hurt? Or…

 

 _Ah…_ Shuuichi blinked, feeling as if his mind had come to a screeching halt right in the middle of something. Sometimes it happened with seemingly no discernible reason, but he was usually able to figure out what he’d been thinking of after a few seconds. The problem was that it had been happening a bit more frequent than usual, no thanks to the fact that he was tired a lot of the time.

 

He yawned, stretching a little. What _had_ he been thinking about earlier?

 

Oh, right! He didn’t want to hurt anyone by accidentally taking too much energy from them. He definitely wouldn’t want to do that; with the reputation which his class had for disasters, it would either be something stupidly benign but ridiculously overblown, or something that could get them all called to the principal’s office.

 

Again.

 

Nobody wanted that right now, especially not him. He was starting to realize that maybe, just maybe, not eating had actually been a bad idea when his thoughts scrambled yet again, this time in response to what sounded like someone calling him.

 

That voice sounded familiar… so he decided to turn around and see who it was.


	5. Chapter 5

_CHAPTER FIVE_

As it turned out, the person who had been calling him was Kaito. Despite his exhaustion, Shuuichi couldn’t help but feel a little happy at that fact. Their conversation had taken off rather well, and now they were talking about things which were happening around the school that day.

 

Just regular stuff, really. Thankfully excluding their class’s infamous chaotic antics. It was strange, really. Even Kokichi seemed to be keeping his normal tricks at a tamer level than usual.

 

The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and for once, Hope’s Peak seemed less like a disaster area and more like a normal boarding school. It was a miracle, really. Who knew that heaven could smile on infernal beings such as himself?

 

Maybe they’d cut them some slack, for once. Not all incubi and succubi were hell-bent on ripping sexual pleasure from humans with reckless abandon these days. Those that did were… not valued very highly, to say the least. As the times had changed, they’d gradually gone into hiding, preferring to use the less… invasive means of getting energy.

 

...energy…

 

Maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to think about that right now. Especially when he was around someone that he liked… part of him just wanted to cuddle up with Kaito right there and now, but looking at the fact that they were both walking on school grounds, outside the building right now, it could cause a bit of a comical scenario.

 

Besides, it would be weird to just… spring that at Kaito out of the blue. He didn’t even have an excuse apart from “I forgot to eat.”

 

Ridiculous.

 

He sighed, closing his eyes briefly. This just wasn’t working…

 

“Hey, Shuuichi, are you okay? You seem a little tired,” he heard Kaito said.

 

His eyes fluttered open and he opened his mouth, trying to formulate a good excuse. Before he could do so, he heard an explosion go off behind them, and his train of thought yet again crashed spectacularly.

 

He heard Kaito yelling something, but instinct had taken over, and he was hiding behind Kaito, hugging the Ultimate Astronaut’s torso for dear life. He never was good with loud noises, and one had just gone off out of nowhere…

 

Before he could realize just what he was doing, his grip on Kaito tightened a little, and he could feel himself getting a little stronger and less tired. Maybe… just a little more couldn’t hurt, right? Just a little more…

 

He’d let go after… ten minutes…

 

...or more…


	6. Chapter 6

_CHAPTER SIX_

Kokichi was barely restraining himself from laughing his ass off.

 

He’d have to make sure Shuuichi thanked him for that later. He didn’t know how some people managed to forget to feed for that long. It was a mystery, really. Maybe they just hadn’t had the right training. It was a bit of a pity, when he thought about it.

 

His parents weren’t precisely the best, but they’d at least taught him the basics before basically leaving him to fend for himself while they went about their business. Most incubi and succubi were like that: briefly settle down to have a kid or two, do the bare minimum for parenting and buzz off as soon as the kid knew how to feed themselves.

 

Human-made institutions against things like that be damned; they were immortals and thus didn’t apply.

 

The one thing he thanked his parents for was his looks. It might take most people a while to guess which parent had given him which traits, but all in all, he’d turned out to be pretty cute. When he wasn’t actively destroying that perception of himself, he could get several touches in throughout the day, just by being adorable.

 

Especially when he was younger; those had been the days. Head pats, cheek-squishing, all of that nonsense. Sure, it could get a little annoying after a while, but cuteness was a big weakness to most humans. That’s why there were entire portions of social media carved out just for looking at cute pictures and videos of various baby animals and stuff like that.

 

His admittedly limited shapeshifting usually helped whenever he had to feed. He wasn’t too keen about feeding at school, so taking some random disguise and snaking out wasn’t much of a problem.

 

He preferred to identify all the incubi and succubi wherever he was first before revealing himself and taking risks. He was sure he’d found most of them out, but he might be missing one or two of them.

 

And most of them… most of them were _disasters_.

 

Shuuichi, in particular, was one of the worst disasters of the entire bunch. He could get so involved in his detective training that he’d forget to feed. That on its own was understandable; training his talent was something he couldn’t afford to not do. However, he did it so often that he almost seemed to be deliberately putting himself in harm’s way.

 

Case in point: this morning. “Dead man walking” was the only thing he could think of to describe that. Maybe “dead incubus walking” would be more accurate. Whatever the case, the detective should be glad that he’d had an extra glitter bomb on him, and that he hadn’t doused him and his potential mate with the explosion.

 

Sure, it would be obvious who did it, but it was better than letting someone starve to death because of their own stupidity. He might not have been a cherub, but even he had mercy.

 

And now that his good deed of the day was finished, he could get onto the real highlight of today: teasing Kiibo!


	7. Chapter 7

_CHAPTER SEVEN_

“Hey, hey, hey! Kiiboy, where are you going?! I haven’t finished asking you all the questions I have yet!” Kokichi could easily keep pace with Kiibo, even as the robot tried to run away. A perk of staying well-fed.

 

“I’m not answering your robophobic questions! Not today, Kokichi!” Kiibo still seemed determined to lose him. “Not today!”

 

(Kokichi couldn’t help but think that Kiibo might want to add something to the end of that last sentence. ‘Not today, Satan!’ perhaps! The very thought was ridiculous, and yet, he was a demon. If someone traced back the genealogies of the inhabitants of Hell far enough, they’d reach Satan and the original Fallen Angels, or Demons, soon enough.)

 

(Sure, the Demon of Lust was his patron demon, but there were a number of mixes that could have been involved. A third of all the angels of heaven wasn’t precisely a small gene pool. And more and more angels had Fallen over the years. Not to mention all of the spontaneous mutations… meh. He could worry about all that some other time.)

 

“Oh, _yes_ you’ll be answering them today! Could you ignore my adorable face? Huh? Could you, could you, could you?”

 

“Yes, I could! And I’m doing that right now!”

 

“But you’re still talking to me! You’re a bad liar, Kiiboy! Robots are always _really_ bad liars, you know!”

 

“That’s robophobic!”

 

Kokichi wouldn’t admit that it made his heart skip a few beats every time Kiibo said that. Sure, he might not have showed it outwardly, but even he couldn’t lie to himself about how smitten he was.

 

“Oh, really? Really, really, really? If it’s robophobic, prove me wrong! If you can’t you’re just lying~!”  


“I am not lying!”

 

“Oh, yes you are!”

 

“No, I’m not!”

 

“Yes, you are!”

 

“I’m not!”

 

“You are~!”  


It didn’t take an incubus’s enhanced vision to see that Kiibo’s face was getting redder than ketchup. Even the whirring of the fans in his system seemed to have sped up. Kokichi swore that his spirit was jumping for joy at the fact that, yes, he’d made Kiibo flustered. It was such a nice feeling…

 

Kokichi didn’t know if he’d ever be able to confess, but for now, he’d content himself with this. Flustering Kiibo was something that he considered a bit of a personal achievement most of the time.


	8. Chapter 8

_CHAPTER EIGHT_

Makoto was currently unaware of the mild chaos that had ensued in Class 79. What he was aware of, though, was that he was bored.

 

And somehow, his legs had propelled him into the library after his brain had processed that.  He wasn’t much of a reader, but he might be able to find a book to temporarily sate his restlessness.

 

He looked over the shelves, occasionally looking at a few books that caught his interest. He didn’t take many with him, though. He wasn’t much of a voracious reader, so the few books he’d been able to get would be enough to occupy him for a few hours. He was about to head to a desk to read when he heard something.

 

Or rather he heard someone. Two someones. Two familiar someones, in fact.

 

He listened in a bit more, trying to make sure what he was hearing was correct. It took a few more seconds, but he figured them out. Those choices were indeed those of Kyoko and Togami.

 

They were still here? What on earth could they be talking about?

 

He went a little closer in the direction he heard their voices coming from, trying to hear more of the conversation. He was getting bits and pieces of it, and from what he was hearing, they were talking about some sort of international dispute.

 

It occurred to him that he probably had no business listening in on them like this, but curiosity had quickly overtaken him, and he couldn't just stop _now_ , could he?

 

If he'd done something halfway, he might as well continue with it, as long as it wasn't a complete lost cause. This definitely wasn't a lost cause yet.

 

“...suspicions of supernatural activity?” Togami asked, sounding incredulous.

 

“I'm not sure how they came to that conclusion either,” Kyoko said. “However, they somehow managed to string up enough evidence together to convince everyone else.”

 

“And just what were they hoping to achieve by this? Because all they seem to have done is to promote needless fear in most people.”

 

“They're playing their cards close to their chest, for now, so all we can do is predict what the could potentially do. I personally think that there's a high chance that they'll come up with a quote-unquote, infallible way of getting rid of the problem.”

 

Togami scoffed. “So they're trying to get an obscene amount of resources funneled into a project that will go nowhere. So they really think they're going to get away with this?”

 

“They seem to think so.”

 

“Well, they'll have to be sorely disappointed. Most of their potential business partners share our viewpoint on the subject. This will be a subject of ridicule for a long time to come at this rate.”

 

“Indeed.”

 

Makoto couldn't fully explain the churning in his stomach at their words. He couldn't fully understand what they were talking about, but he was sure that he'd managed to catch the tail end of a conversation that he definitely wasn't supposed to have heard.

 

‘Supernatural activity’? ‘Suspicions’?

 

Just those three words being in the same sentence was enough to make him uneasy. In this modern world, most supernatural creatures were barely passing under the radar. As humans evolved, so did their evasion tactics.

 

However, if suspicions had risen high enough in some circles of people that Kyoko and Byakuya were having such a serious-sounding discussion over it, then the ever-present bothering from the monster hunters who simply wouldn't leave them alone would probably intensify.

 

It was a good thing that luck seemed to be on his side today, else he might have given himself away.

 

Obviously, he didn't feel like listening in on that conversation anymore. He could check out the books and read them in his room without any problem.

 

Yeah, that would probably work.

 

As he made his hasty retreat, he swore that he saw someone crunching in the shadows somewhere however, he wasn't interested in checking. Whoever they were, he hoped they could handle themselves.

 

That was if he wasn't imagining them, anyway.

 

As he left, the figure in the shadows moved a little. They were leaned against a bookshelf, and even as they kept completely silent, they started shaking in fear.


	9. Chapter 9

_CHAPTER NINE_

Toko knew that it wasn’t the brightest idea to listen in on someone’s private conversations. It was heavily looked down upon and discouraged for a multitude of reasons. One of them which she had had the privilege of being told time and time again was that she could one day end up hearing something that she was not supposed to hear.

 

Today had been one of those days. And now, she didn’t know what to do.

 

She’d been in the library, of course. You needed a quiet place to stay when you were writing a book. And she didn’t feel like staying in her room for some odd reason. Even an antisocial succubus needed to have a change of scenery to avoid getting miserably bored, after all.

 

And as she’d been writing, she’d heard two people walk into the library. Ordinarily, it wouldn’t be something that would call her attention, but these two people, in particular, were what she liked to call “exceptional.”

 

Byakuya and Kyoko.

 

Kyoko was someone she could probably trust if she ever needed to trust someone other than herself. Detectives were reliable people when they weren’t running circles around everyone else with their intelligence. She was also… not terrible, but not too worthy of excessive admiration, either.

 

Byakuya, however… her thoughts on him were… very, very… complicated.

 

He was beautiful, of course. A prime specimen. Someone who she wouldn’t be unhappy to spend a few decades with. Smart, attractive and filthy rich to boot. The dream of many, many girls around the world everywhere.

 

The dream she had been so close to having... the dream that had been shattered over and over again, until all she’d been able to do was wonder what it could have been, if things had been different.

 

It wasn’t that she was stupid, it was that she just couldn’t help but linger on it. Crushes never left easily for incubi and succubi. The assumption that she needed to move on was actually something that she could agree that she needed to do by this point. The problem was that she just couldn’t help herself from lingering on it.

 

So, obviously, as soon as she’d heard them talking, she’d abandoned her work to hide in the shadows and listen.

 

And what she’d heard made her blood run cold.

 

She’d heard the older incubi and succubi talk about the hunters. Demon hunters. Sometimes, they could be called exorcists. Whether you called them hunters or exorcists, their job was simple, and horrendous. All they wanted or needed was to do was kill all demons.

 

And they were finally coming out of the shadows, after centuries of being ignored. She’d been so filled with terror that she hadn’t listened attentively enough to get the whole story, but she’d gotten the gist of it. They, along with a myriad of monster hunters, had finally reached their wit's end.

  
No longer were they content to just… kill other species off in the shadows. They wanted to make the entire debacle public. The lucky thing was that they seemed to have failed in their endeavor. The real problem was that now, they had probably been able to at least partially convince some people.

 

If there were enough leaks, people might be convinced to join their little crusade, or gain interest in it. And from there, a long time of peace would be destroyed.

 

If they were going to do something like that, who knew what they might pull next? Toko didn’t know, and she didn’t think that she wanted to know what those crazy hunters planned next. All she wanted to do was go into her room and hide for as long as she possibly could.

 

She wasn’t weakened from hunger, but she wasn’t a good fighter, either. The best thing she could do would be to stay on the sidelines and try to keep out of everyone’s way. Nobody needed a nuisance like her around, anyway…


	10. Chapter 10

_CHAPTER TEN_

Kazuichi Soda was just about _done_ with life by this point.

 

He didn’t know how he’d managed to slip up so badly. He didn’t even know how the hell he’d even gotten Gundham’s attention. All he knew was that somehow, **_somehow_** , the human had managed to catch him feeding.

 

And from there, even after he’d hastily transformed back and tried to defuse the situation by passing it off as the Ultimate Animal Breeder just hallucinating the entire thing, Gundham had kept a firm resolve in what he’d seen.

 

Not only that, but he’d chased him. He’d gotten fucking _chased_ by someone who was trying to get him to blow his own fucking cover. It was a miracle that he’d been able to get away before anything serious could happen.

 

Now he was fiddling with a few machines, wondering how he was going to get himself out of this mess. He might not have known Gundham well, but he knew that the Ultimate Animal Breeder had experience in observing things. You couldn’t just approach an animal randomly you had to do it in a way that didn’t panic it.

 

That probably meant that in spite of his excessively loud and wordy boasting, that he knew how to be quiet. Maybe even quiet enough to sneak up on a person.

 

And even if he didn’t go that route, Kazuichi was sure that he’d end up getting followed for a while. Which meant that he might not be able to feed for a while. He could be a very touchy-feely person, but he wasn’t about to give Gundham any strategic hints about his feeding process anytime soon.

 

And feeding off of people’s dreams was _exactly_ how he’d gotten caught, so that was a big red flag right there. Even if it was his preferred method of feeding, it would be a bad idea to try it again anytime soon.

 

And as for sex… he wasn’t ready to do that at all. Despite what the legends said, it was either a last resort for must incubi and succubi, particularly nowadays when people were more careful about that sort of thing. And going that far to feed tended to be a bit more complicated than it was worth in most situations. Thanks to. That, and a myriad of other reasons, that particular avenue of feeding would be closed off for a while.

 

Everything seemed to total up to him not being able to feed at all for a while. It might be a _little_ extreme, but it wasn't as if he'd die. 

 

He might be able to outlast Gundham on this one, if he tried. He wasn’t hungry, since he’d been able to feed well before the can of worms had broken open earlier that day. The one thing wrong with this was that Gundham’s interest in the supernatural could outlast his natural stamina.

 

And that couldn’t happen. It just _couldn’t_.

 

Only Satan knew what would happen if things reached that point, honestly. He wasn’t interested in seeing how that particular train wreck would occur. However, there was an uncomfortably high chance of that happening, so his hoping just might turn out to be in vain after all.

 

He gulped. This wasn’t helping him feel any less nervous. Ironically, he felt even more unsettled than before he’d started rehashing the day’s events in his mind.

 

He looked up briefly, making sure that, no, he wasn’t being followed.

 

Nobody would even go that that length to make sure something was true, right? That only happened in stories, didn’t it? It’s not like this was really even important enough for someone to stalk him over, if he was being honest with himself. He was just being paranoid. Paranoid and… maybe a little self-conscious.

 

If he could try to concentrate on something else entirely, maybe he could get his mind off of all this. It would be simple, and it would--

 

…

 

Was that… wait. Did he just hear an explosion right outside the window?

 

He stood up and rushed to the window, only to see something that made his eyes water with pain.

 

Glitter.

 

_Glitter._

 

**_Glitter._**

 

 _Motherfucking_ **_glitter_** was all over the fucking ground.

 

It was on the pathway, it was on the grass, heck, it was probably on part of the school building as well.

 

And it wasn’t just any regular old glitter, either. It was glitter that was an obnoxiously bright purple. A bright purple that matched the hair of one of the most infamous students in the newest class of Hope’s Peak, Class 79.

 

Kokichi Ouma.

  
The so-called Ultimate Supreme Leader.

 

He’d detonated a painfully bright _glitter bomb_ right where everyone could see it and feel their souls get drained from the sight. He'd just tossed that monstrosity and left it there.

 

Just looking at it for a few seconds made Kazuichi want to throw up. Having enhanced eyesight made the experience even more painful. You couldn't just up and _ignore_ a mass of tiny particles that were so large and obnoxiously colored. And he could actually discern individual glitter particles in the mess. He could see how the light shone on every single damn particle in that glitter explosion. 

 

It was terrible. 

 

It was almost overwhelming. 

 

There was _so much_ of it…

 

Kazuichi pulled his beanie over his eyes for a few seconds as he turned away from the spectacle. Any minute now, other people would notice the madness. Any minute now, the yelling would start.

 

Speak of the devil, and he shall appear.

 

Within seconds, the entire school was abuzz with exclamations of surprise and anger. It seemed like no matter how many detentions the little brat got, he never seemed to be able to stop. He was incorrigible to a fault.

 

Kazuichi didn’t know what to do with the information that, no, Kokichi wasn’t a Demon of Deceit. The little bastard was a full-fledged incubus with the mean streak of an imp. He’d be the death of the entire _school_ by this point.

 

At the very least, it wasn’t like Miss Yukizome would drag him, or anyone else to class, right? He might be able to fit in some time to go to his room and wonder what this day had turned into.

 

(And cry.)

 

(A little, not too much.)

 

(Just for a half hour or two.)

 

(Or five. Or six.)

 

(Or even most of the remaining time in the day.)

 

(...)

 

(That was normal, right?

 

(Right?)

 

(Wasn't it?)

 

(...)

 

( _Wasn't it?_ )


	11. Chapter 11

_CHAPTER ELEVEN_

Meanwhile, somewhere else in Hope’s Peak, someone else had a problem. Thankfully, it was a far less pressing problem, but it was still a problem nonetheless.

 

Kaito had thought that Shuuichi had been looking tired a lot lately. He didn’t know the precise reason why, of course, but he was suspecting something along the lines of working so much that he forgot to eat. It was something that Kaito himself was guilty of on occasion, so it wasn’t something completely sacrilegious or anything.

 

The problem was that Shuuichi did it a lot. “A lot” meaning that it seemed to flip-flop from a weekly basis to almost daily, especially when there was work that involved his talent.

 

And what had happened right now was… probably a combination of factors, but right now, Shuuichi had either passed out or fallen asleep, and was clinging to him like a koala would hang onto a eucalyptus tree. It wasn’t that Kaito didn’t appreciate it, don’t get him wrong.

 

(Honestly? In any other situation, he would find it adorable. In fact, it _still_ seemed adorable right now.)

 

The problem was that both potential causes of this were far from reassuring and positive. In fact, they were a little worrying, if he was being honest. But there wasn’t much he could do now but take Shuuichi to the nurse’s office and hope that he’d be okay.

 

(And of course, during the entire trip, he’d be denying that it kind of felt nice to hold Shuuichi like this. He couldn’t think like that, dammit, one of his sidekicks could be in danger right now!)

 

He was just hoping that the state of things wouldn’t be too out-of-order thanks to what was most likely Kokichi’s latest prank. It was honestly a miracle that neither he or Shuuichi had gotten hit by that stupid glitter bomb.

 

And the little gremlin had chosen an eye-bleeding color for it, too. At the very least, it wasn’t blood-pink like the last one, or that absolutely disgustingly bright silver. That silver one had been completely and utterly _unforgivable_.

 

(He swore that he could still find some glitter in his hair, even after all those months ago…)

 

At the very least, he hadn’t been deliberately targeted for once. This time, it seemed to have been meant to create some sort of… distraction? Or some sort of statement, he guessed. No one could be too sure of what Kokichi’s motives were when it came to things like that. He was just happy that it didn’t seem like any people apart from the perpetrator was involved in this.

 

It was one less thing for him to worry about.

 

That was good.


	12. Chapter 12

_CHAPTER TWELVE_

By the time Kaito had gotten Shuuichi into the nurse’s office, Kiibo had finally managed to shake off Kokichi.

 

Or, more accurately, he’d barely been able to shake Kokichi off. Despite his size, the Ultimate Supreme Leader was _fast_. Or maybe it was _because_ of his size. Or maybe he’d drank a lot of Panta and thus had enough energy to keep going after him for so long.

 

Really, he wasn't much taller than Kokichi himself. It was strange how Kokichi seemed to be so much faster than him... 

 

In any case, Kiibo wasn’t completely sure if he’d actually managed to outrun Kokichi, or if Kokichi had cut him some slack. It always seemed like Kokichi tended to let him get away after some time, and he wasn’t sure why.

 

Maybe it was just something that happened. Something similar to how the chases becoming a regular occurrence.

 

(He may or may not be confused as to how he’s supposed to take it. On one hand, it’s gradually giving him the courage to ask Miu if she could add a speed boost as one of his upgrades. On another hand, he doesn’t want to be able to just yeet himself away from the disaster entirely.)

 

(He has no idea why…)

 

It wasn’t as if he looked forward to them or anything similar, if he was being honest. The thing was that he was so used to them that whenever Kokichi _didn’t_ chase him, he felt as if part of his day was either missing or had been skipped.

 

It was a strange thing, really. A habit, he assumed? Or maybe his programming had grown to recognize it as part of his daily routine because it happened so often?

 

Was that the same as forming a habit?

 

Paraphrased from the Google definition, a habit was a regular tendency or practice, particularly one that was difficult to give up.

 

Could this be a habit? It wasn’t as if he would chase Kokichi if the Supreme Leader refused to chase him.

 

…

 

Would he?

 

Kiibo felt his fans speed up as his internal temperature rose. He couldn’t tell why his systems were doing that. It seemed like it could be... nice to be the chaser instead of the chased for once. But would Kokichi think?

 

And why was he thinking of something like this in the first place?

 

He had no idea.


	13. Chapter 13

_CHAPTER THIRTEEN_

Byakuya was oblivious to the minor disturbance he'd managed to cause for two of his classmates.

 

In the contrary, not only was he completely oblivious to it, but he was also wondering just why that sort of nonsensical news had even been brought to his attention in the first place. It was something that not only had no logical basis, but also seemed to scream “outlandish conspiracy theory.” It sounded awfully similar to the ridiculous tales Hagakure liked telling, so it wasn't something he wanted to linger too much on. Spending time on such things only fueled further delusions and allowed the people who cooked them up to live in an unbreakable cycle of their warped fantasies. And if it didn't do that, it could inspire a completely normal person to take up those stupid and outlandish views themselves.

 

Obviously, he didn't want or need that anywhere near his life right now. So he decided to move his attention to something else.

 

Namely, where in the world had Toko and Makoto gone to?

 

Even after Toko had finally stopped living in her half-mad fantasies and had left her potential romantic pursuits in the past, she never seemed to be far from him. He often ignored her, or, if she'd managed to make herself presentable enough, made light conversation with her. It didn't go much beyond casual small talk, but it was something they'd grown accustomed to.

 

However, the Ultimate Writing Prodigy was nowhere to be found.

 

And, similar to her absence, Makoto seemed to have disappeared. That was something he considered a bit more worrying.

 

It had taken a while, but he, Makoto and Kyoko were now what could be considered a friend group. A close one, compared to most high school friendships that developed in a similar amount of time.

 

He and Kyoko had come together first, drawn to each other by the very different but oddly similar expectations people had for each of them thanks to their talents. Beyond that, they bonded over what most would call bickering.

 

He preferred to call it an unstructured debate. Either of them would propose a topic, they researched on it, and ended up trying to win each other over on their interpretation of it all. It was either that or just talking on various issues. Surprisingly, despite being caught up in strictly-controlled environments, they often had differing views on many topics. It was always interesting to hear how someone else viewed a topic.

 

And if they weren't doing that, they were talking about something that they didn't have much contention on. It was an interesting mix of hot and cold when it came to their conversations, and it was a mix that he heavily enjoyed.

 

Kyoko had been the first one to befriend Makoto, and had been the one who brought the two of them together.

 

At first, things had been a little awkward. It would be strange for them to get into their regular debates with someone else around, especially with how intense they could get. It could either be a heated competition of who could be more passive-aggressive or a speed competition where both of them tried to bombard the other with points so quickly that they were rendered unable to respond to everything in time.

 

(So far, when it came to the latter, they sat at a rather uneasy tie.)

 

Imagine his surprise when Makoto had not only been fine with their regular method of discussion, but had actually been able to keep up with them and add points of his own.

 

He even managed to act as a peacekeeping force between him and Kyoko, preventing them from getting too fierce in their jabs against each other. He also provided another perspective four one to think about; one that neither of them would ever really consider in their arguments.

 

The extraordinary hearing from the ordinary.

 

Most of his family members would scoff at the idea, not even bothering to give it more than a second if notice.

 

(He would only admit it to himself, but before attending Hope's Peak and somehow falling into this strange friendship, he would have carried their same view on it.).

 

He quickly found out that it wasn't a good idea to try, and that Makoto might have seemed like a pushover, but he wasn't as passive as he seemed at a first impression. On the contrary, when things got heated enough, he could become just as pointed and opinionated as he and Kyoko, and could sometimes outshine them in sheer zeal.

 

And when they weren't arguing over something, Makoto’s presence made things feel less tense, and made things far more calming. He acted as a sort of balance between the two of them, and he'd defused a few potential verbal explosions.

 

Not only that, but Makoto himself was… to put it simply, he was interesting. One would have thought that being around so many people of such a high caliber would make someone think that he'd be more reserved than he actually was. But instead of that, he was as outgoing and friendly as any normal person, managing to fit right in, his exceptional ordinary status somehow managing to blend right in with everyone else's extraordinary one.

 

In fact, interesting might not be the right word for it.

 

Makoto Naegi was _fascinating,_ both in his actions and his personality. For the life of him, Byakuya couldn't understand how or why the Ultimate Lucky Student had managed to capture his attention so firmly, but he wasn't complaining about it.

 

Makoto was just… nice to be around, really.

 

(Of course, he wouldn't admit it to anyone else, but he looked forward to seeing Makoto a lot. Maybe a little more than he looked forward to seeing Kyoko, if not in a slightly different way. He wasn't sure why, but things had somehow ended up that way.)

 

And now, he hadn't seen Makoto for most of the day. It was probably baseless worrying, and he was probably fine. The real problem was that he couldn't find a way to reason to himself that it wouldn't be overreacting to, say, text Makoto to see if he was alright.

 

Kyoko hadn't seen Makoto either, and had been busy with detective work ever since they'd finished their talk.

 

He himself couldn't find it in him to concentrate much on his work, so it might just be better to text Makoto and stop himself from feeling worried and distracted.

 

…

 

…

 

He hoped that he wouldn't be bothering Makto too much with this. And with that final thought, he finally scrounged up the courage to start composing the text.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Makoto and Byakuya text each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (Or, translated, I'm terrible at memes. And conversations in general. And when writing the endure chat sequence, I got tired of fighting Google Docs, so can we pretend that both of them would just type in complete sentences and stuff like that--)

_CHAPTER FOURTEEN_

**_Byakuya_** _: Makoto, are you alright? I haven’t seen you all day._

 

Makoto looked at the test message with surprise. He had kind of holed himself up in his room for a while after overhearing that... conversations. He wasn't going to shut himself in for the rest of the day, but he'd just needed a bit of time alone.

 

What was strange was that Byakuya actually contacted him first. The heir was slowly coming out of his shell, but this was a small leap. 

 

 **_Makoto:_ ** _Oh, I’m fine! I just needed a little time alone, is all._

 

Almost immediately, Byakuya came online. Now that was _really_ unexpected.

 

**_Byakuya_ ** _That’s good._

 

 **_Makoto:_ ** _Were you worried about me?_   


**_Byakuya_ :** _Of course I wasn’t. Why would someone of my caliber be bothered with someone of yours in that way?_

 

And cue his typical "defense mechanism." 

 

 **_Makoto:_ ** _Awww, you WERE worried about me!_

 

**_Byakuya_** _: No, I wasn’t!_

 

 **_Makoto:_ ** _Yes you were!_

 

**_Byakuya_** _: I’m not letting you goad me into such a childish argument again._

 

 **_Makoto:_ ** _At least, not without Kyoko to break us up, huh?_

 

**_Byakuya_** _: Why, you…!_

 

**_Byakuya_** _: And speaking of that, she wouldn’t be able to. She’s been busy with her work since morning_

 

 **_Makoto:_ ** _Awww._

 

 **_Makoto:_ ** _That’s no fun…_

 

 **_Makoto:_ ** _Wait!_

 

**_Byakuya_** _: What?_

 

 **_Makoto:_ ** _You still texted me despite that. Kyoko didn’t have to make you do it this time!_

 

**_Byakuya_** _: Oh, shut up._

 

 **_Makoto:_ ** _We’re texting, remember? I can’t technically shut up. And you don’t want me to stop talking to you, I hope._

 

**_Byakuya_** _: Unfortunately, you’re right._

 

 **_Makoto:_ ** _Such kind words from the heir of the Togami Corporation, everyone! Cherish them before they disappear from the screen!_

 

**_Byakuya_** _: Very funny, comedian._

 

_**Makoto:** I try my best. _

 

_**Byakuya** : How admirable.  _

 

_**Makoto** : It better be admirable, with how much effort I put into it.  _

 

_**Byakuya** : You put effort into it? _

 

_**Makoto** : Do I look like the type of person who doesn't put in 110%??? I'm wounded.  _

 

_**Byakuya** : If you're wounded, I'm mortally injured. _

 

_**Makoto** : :0 _

 

_**Byakuya** : I'm safe, you dingbat.  _

 

_**Makoto** : Thank goodness for small mercies then.  _

 

_**Byakuya** : Hm.  _

 

_**Makoto** : OwO, what's that? _

 

_**Byakuya** : I just realized something. _

 

_**Makoto** : What? _

 

_**Byakuya:**  You’re a lot saltier through texts than you are out loud. How come? _

 

 **_Makoto:_ ** _Would anyone take me seriously if I tried to be salty irl? I’d end up looking like most of those Isabelle memes half the time._

 

**_Byakuya_ ** _Isabelle?_

 

 **_Makoto:_ ** _The yellow dog from Animal Crossing_

 

**_Byakuya_ :** _What about it?_

 

 **_Makoto:_ ** _You don’t know that meme?_

 

**_Byakuya_** _: You peasants and your so-called meme culture… it’s ridiculous!_

 

 **_Makoto:_ ** _Alright, alright, I’ll get you some examples, you big baby!_

 

**_Byakuya_** _: Hey!_

 

**_Byakuya_** _: I am the heir to the Togami Corporation!_

 

**_Byakuya_** _: I am certainly not a baby!_

 

 **_Makoto:_ ** _You are now!_

 

**_Byakuya_** _: No, I am not!_

 

 **_Makoto:_ ** _Yes you are!_

 

**_Byakuya_ :** _No, I’m not!_

 

_**Makoto** : Yes, you are! _

 

 **_Makoto:_ ** _Now give me a break for a few seconds, I need to look through my meme folder for this._

 

Talking with Togami always was an entertaining experience. Even though he was often the peacekeeper of the group, he had his own moments of belligerence. Such as now, when he was planning to flood Byakuya with at least ten versions of the same meme, still counting.

 

Let it not be said that cuteness didn’t conceal evil.


	15. Chapter 15

_CHAPTER FIFTEEN_

While the meme enlightenment was going on, Shuuichi swore that he was in heaven… or, more accurately, that he was snugly at home in the Circle of Lust. Sure, he hadn’t really had much experience with Hell before, but this embrace… it felt like home.

 

What he was thinking right now was probably nothing more than sentimental nonsense, of course, but he just couldn’t help it. He felt so comfortable and safe that it was almost unbelievable. He could barely think straight; all he knew was that he was holding onto something and that he never wanted to let it go.

 

It was warm and comfortable and made Shuuichi feel so safe it would be comical in any other situation. And in addition to that, it felt so familiar…

 

So reassuringly familiar…

 

He wasn’t sure if he let out a sigh of happiness or not, but he certainly felt like it. He never ever wanted to let go. He was too comfortable and happy to do that, honestly. All he wanted to do right now was rest up a little and make sure that he continued to soak up all the warmth and comfort he was feeling.

 

It had been quite a while since he'd felt so secure, and he wasn't about to let this end prematurely.


	16. Chapter 16

_CHAPTER SIXTEEN_

Kaito was dying.

 

Not literally, of course. He wasn’t sick or anything. Far from it, he was feeling… good. In fact, he was feeling so good that it was definitely causing a problem.

 

He was a very touchy-feely person, he guessed. He’d been brought up in a household where physical contact was common, and the fact that he was pretty outgoing and happy.

 

Some people found it strange, but other people didn't like it too much. He'd had to try and find a balance in his behavior thanks to that.

 

Shuuichi was one of the people who seemed to be more reserved when it came to physical contact. Kaito respected that; different people had different preferences and boundaries and he didn't want to push too far and make anyone uncomfortable. No hero would do something like that, after all.

 

But now?

 

…Kaito wasn't entirely sure about that assumption anymore.

 

Shuuichi had clung to him in his sleep from the point when the glitter bomb had exploded right through the process Kaito went through to get all the both of them to the nurse's office. The Ultimate Detective hadn't even woken up despite all of the movement. And he hadn't been much of a hindrance; he'd somehow managed to move into some of the most manageable positions that were physically possible, without promoting.

 

And contrary to what anyone would expect, Shuuichi's grip had gotten tighter as time went on.

 

(Not that he'd minded. Shuuichi was cute at the best of times, and seeing him when he was asleep was part of the best of times.)

 

(Not that he was keeping track for a specific reason. All of his sidekicks tended to be cute in one way or another…)

 

(Shuuichi was just… a little more different with his brand of cuteness. That was all.)

 

Strangely, the nurse's office has been open, but Mikan herself seemed to be absent. With how tightly Shuuichi had been holding him at that point, he wasn't all that ready to go and look for her.

 

Not only that, but he was starting to feel tired by that point. Not chronically sleepy, but tired enough to want to lie down on one of the beds and take a break.

 

As soon as he'd gotten himself comfortable, Shuuichi had adjusted his position, moving to cling to him a little more… _intimately_.

 

At first, it had been fine. It had slowly turned into slow cuddling, and it had slowly started lulling Kaito to sleep. In fact, Kaito was sure that it was around that point that he'd started skipping in and out of what seemed like dream sequences.

 

He couldn't properly remember most of them, but what he remembered was… cute. Really cute. They could have even been a little wholesome.

 

And then things slowly started to go in a more… heated direction.

 

It wasn't anything too severe. Just little snippets that sent his heart racing and made him feel just a little uncomfortable under his clothes. Nothing too spicy.

 

Things gradually escalated, getting more and more disorienting to wake up from, making him feel more and more unruffled…

 

And then it happened.

 

He wasn't sure what exactly had happened, but just trying to recall it sent his mind and heart racing.

 

And from there, all hell had broken loose.

 

Shuuichi had started _actively_ cuddling into him, and not just the normal “snuggling into a beloved teddy bear or comfy pillow” either.

 

To put it bluntly, his sidekick had started _grinding_ against him in his sleep.

 

Kaito wasn't sure what his initial reaction had been, but he'd probably sped through surprise, shock and embarrassment right before his body decided to say “fuck logic” and start getting aroused.

 

And as if that wasn't enough, Shuuichi didn't stop there. Oh _no_.

 

Before Kaito could process it, Shuuichi had started moaning in his sleep. And as soon as that happened, Kaito's arousal shot through the goddamn roof. And as if that wasn't enough, the tiredness intensified, numbing his limbs and making it harder to think or do anything.

 

In fact, Kaito found himself _wanting_ to fall asleep.

 

He knew full well that falling asleep when he was this aroused was probably a bad idea, but something in the back of his head told him that maybe, just this once, he might want to take the chance.

 

It wasn't as if he'd be able to break Shuuichi's grip anytime soon, so he might as well just go along with it.

 

His mind seemed to be slipping into a heavy, pleasurable haze, and he couldn't say that he didn't like it. He could barely keep his eyes open right now, thoughtless of do anything else…

 

It was a strange feeling, but it was one that felt surprisingly… good. And comfortable. And more and more appealing each passing second…

 

…maybe sleeping wouldn't be such a bad idea after all…

 

…maybe…

 

He swore he felt someone's hand grip his shoulder lightly, and leave a tingling sensation in its wake.

 

Was it real? He couldn't tell.

 

All he knew was that he was feeling even sleeper all of a sudden… and that he felt as if he was walking into something.

 

If he didn't know any better, he was falling right into a dream…


	17. Chapter 17

_CHAPTER SEVENTEEN_

Mikan didn't know what to do.

 

Apart from helping Kaito sleep to accelerate Shuuichi's feeding process, there wasn't much she could actually do except take stock of the current situation.

 

It wasn't that it didn't look cute. Heaven and hell knew that this was one of the most adorable things she'd ever seen.

 

(Yes, cute. Even though they were borderline fucking in their sleep. Being a succubus meant that she had a natural proclivity towards… having strange tastes in the eyes of humans. She'd learned that over the years.)

 

(But the sheer aura coming off the both of them was a mix of innocence and lust that was adorable just by existing. And the way they were cuddled up to each other?)

 

(There was no other way she could describe it but “cute.”)

 

The only unusual thing about everything was that Shuuichi's grip on Kaito seemed to be… oddly strong for someone of his size. He exercised semi-regularly, so he wasn't as weak and useless as she was, but that sort of unbroken grip maintained for so long was highly unusual.

 

She'd prodded gently at it, seeing if it could be loosened, but it didn't seem to be ready to move anytime soon. She could have luck if she tried to break his fingers in order to separate the two of them, but that would probably be excessive. Any magic use would probably just interfere with what was happening, and wit how drained Shuuichi seemed to be, it didn't seem wise to risk doing anything that could disrupt his feeding.

 

The problem was that Shuuichi didn't seem to be showing any signs of strain, mild or otherwise. That ruled out any normal fears of him draining his classmate dry, thankfully.

 

However, it did bring up another question. Was he really that close to Kaito? So comfortable with him? He was even showing signs of reverting to incubus for on his sleep. That could be because of the exhaustion, but that tended to happen whenever an incubus or succubus felt particularly secure with whoever they were with.

 

Questions, questions…

 

Questions that had no answer.

 

Again, it wasn't as if she could do anything for now except make sure that their functions were stable.

 

Nothing bad was happening, and the two of them seemed to be safe. She'd just take the regular precautions.

 

Yes. All she'd have to do was take regular precautions.

 

And panic a little.

 

She'd found another incubus in the school. Another sex demon descended from Lust.

 

Weren't incubi and succubi meant to be rare? Already, there were three of them, in the same school. Three's a crowd, and if there were three, there was a possibility that there were… more…

 

There couldn’t be so many of them in one school… could there?

 

She only knew about Hajime, and she’d promised not to tell anyone about him… not like she could, anyway.

 

They were both suspecting Kazuichi of being an incubus, but his fear of the occult was something of a deal breaker. It wouldn't make sense, unless he was just wary of the rest of demon-kind. If he was, it was definitely understandable…

 

(Demons of wrath in particular were unpleasant to deal with.)

 

That amounted to a possible amount of three sex demons in one class.

 

And now it seemed that there were _more,_ and they were in _other classes_ within the same school?

 

Maybe she was being paranoid. It could even be a coincidence that she was overreacting about. There couldn’t be… so many of them here right now. Nothing about Hope’s Peak seemed to be a lure for supernatural activity, so it had to be just coincidence.

 

It _had_ to be.

 

She couldn't spend time ruminating in such silly things… she had patients to take care of.

 

She ran a quick magical inspection of the two underclassmen, hoping that things were still stable. Nothing unusual seemed to be happening, so she was assuming that magic was doing a good job of keeping everything in check. As long as she made sure to monitor them, they should be fine.

 

Even though Shuuichi had probably come within inches of completely exhausting himself, it would be fine.

 

They might be clocked out for the rest of the day, but they’d hopefully be okay. Kaito was healthy and athletic, so Shuuichi probably wouldn't take a heavy toll on him…

 

Right?

 

(She'd have to tell Hajime about this later, and she wasn't sure how she'd be able to explain this…)

 

(Of all the ways to learn that there were more incubi in the school, this was one of the more… awkward methods of doing so. It would be a miracle if she managed to stammer out an explanation for this…)


	18. Chapter 18

_CHAPTER EIGHTEEN_

While Kaito and Shuuichi were happily enveloped within the sweet, raunchy embrace of (shared) dreams, Kazuichi was having a bit of an unlucky day. Or, more accurately, he was still in the process of having an unlucky day. It was just his luck, honestly. It was just his luck that he needed to get caught while he was feeding…

 

What had happened was that he and Chiaki had managed to exhaust themselves with a long gaming marathon the previous night. Both of them had managed to fall asleep slumped over each other on the couch, completely exhausted.

 

He couldn’t remember precisely what they’d been playing, but he knew that he’d probably had his ass handed to him in about twenty different ways. Sucks to suck, but that was what happened when you challenged Chiaki of all people to a video game match. At least it hadn’t been too intense...

 

He’d woken up around half an hour before the miniature disaster had started.

 

Chiaki was a cuddler. As soon as she fell asleep, nothing was safe. If she fell asleep on the same bed you were on, you’d probably end up on the floor while she dominated the entire mattress. If the two of you managed to fall asleep on a couch, as far as sleeping Chiaki was concerned, you _became_ part of the couch.

 

The problem was that she was adorable whenever she did that, so you couldn’t even get too angry.

 

With how much Chiaki tended to sleep, it was surprising that she had a lot of energy. Maybe it was used more for her gaming skills and her dreaming than for much else, which was why she seemed so soft and precious most of the time.

 

(“Most of the time” because only Satan would help you if she stumbled across a game that challenged her skills. The aura in the room would become filled with determination the likes of which most people never saw in their lives, all while she planted herself in one spot and kept on trying until she beat the game.)

 

(It only happened rarely, but it had solidified Chiaki as a person that you didn’t want to go into a truly competitive match with unless you wanted your ego to get pummeled. Luckily, his was still intact.)

 

And so, like a fool, he’d decided that it wouldn’t be too much of a risk to take a little more energy from her. It wasn’t gluttony, just normal self-preservation.

 

Besides, it wasn’t as if he wanted to move anywhere. Nor was he interested in infiltrating her dreams for energy. He'd had enough energy to not need to do that. Instead, he took advantage of his close proximity to her and fed off of the energy that came from that. Easy and convenient.

 

Nicely enough, he’d managed to find himself in a dreamscape that was an enjoyable mix of soft colors and vague references to video games. He’d started to feel really relaxed, too…

 

(Since he hadn't been going for dream feeding, he'd just let it play out as it was, taking the role of a bystander. This particular dram was soft and hazy and didn't make much logical sense, but it was calming.)

 

(He had a knack for dream infiltration, really. Even when he wasn't actively seeking that out, he'd be able to look into people's dreams.)

 

(He could safely say that some of his classmates had very… interesting dreams. Not that he could judge, really. But they were definitely a little fantastical in their own rights.)

 

And it was when he had finally let his guard down that he’d heard it.

 

“It” was someone knocking on the door to Chiaki’s room.

 

At first, he hadn’t been able to understand what the fuck the person was saying, because at first, it hadn’t sounded like anything remotely resembling Japanese. By the time he’d realized it for what it was - Gundham’s typical chuunibyou speak - it was too late. The door to his room was being opened after a few quick knocks.

 

All he’d been able to do was lift his head up and stare for a few seconds.

 

When he’d seen Gundham staring at him, he’d initially wondered why. Then he’d looked down at himself.

 

The signature incubus features of skin that gradiented from his eye color to normal colored skin, the signature markings, his damned tail, the claws… they were all on display. In an instant, he quickly put on his human disguise, but the damage had been done.

 

Gundham had already seen him in his true form.

 

And that had led to an extended chase throughout the hallways of the school, complete Gundham yelling at him to tell the truth and him viciously denying it. It had only ended when Kazuichi had managed to escape into the workshop after using a little enhanced speed and quick turns to lose the Ultimate Animal Breeder.

 

And with how closely Gundham had managed to tail him before he'd taken a shortcut, he wasn’t sure how much he’d be able to cheat like that. His reserves weren’t completely empty, but they were less full than he’d like them to be.

 

He’d be able to survive, though. Maybe Gundham would be able to convince himself that it had all been a dream or something.

 

Maybe…

 

Just maybe.


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hajime is tired and worried. Though he refuses to acknowledge that he is worried.

_CHAPTER NINETEEN_

Hinata was _tired_.

 

Yesterday had bad been absolutely _terrible_ , and just thinking over the events made him feel completely and utterly exhausted.

 

He’d already started yesterday feeling a little under the weather. He wasn't running low on energy; life had just decided to give him a few lemon wedges. As long as things remained stable, he had hoped that he wouldn't have much to worry about.

 

However, life was a bitch at the best of times, and it had decided to throw him under the motherfucking bus yesterday, right after punching him in the gut.

 

First, the newest glitter bomb incident had shaken up the school and caused an uproar like he hadn’t seen within the last two months.

 

Next, a nervous Mikan had come to tell him that surprise, surprise: _Shuuichi,_ of all people, was an incubus.

 

Then he’d barely managed to escape getting steamrolled by Gundham, who had been muttering something about an “infernal beast” and “damned lies.”

 

Right after that, he’d somehow managed to walk straight into Byakuya. Not the one from his class, either. The _arrogant_ one. He hadn’t even gotten the chance to at least think of apologizing before the heir had walked off, muttering something that he hadn’t gotten the chance to hear. He’d been holding his phone, and as far as Hajime had been able to see, it was a chat that looked like the smoldering remains of a meme war.

 

And last of all, hed managed to catch a glimpse of the Ultimate Supreme Leader himself, carrying what looked to be cans of spray paint. The glitter either hadn’t been enough, or yet another prank was going to devastate the school in a few days.

 

That wasn't even touching on the regular bullshit his class had managed to get up to, because thinking through all of _that_ nonsense was something that his tired mind was not ready to handle. At all.

 

All of that, combined with the fact that he was, once again, going to have to drag himself to school soon and act as if nothing had happened, was fucking with Hajime’s frame of mind.

 

At this point, he was just waiting for the next calamity to happen.

 

The only thing that could be worse than all this could be demon hunters deciding that the school was a prime location for their exorcism tactics. Honestly, it was lucky that it _hadn’t_ happened already. He just wanted the day to end already…

 

He checked his alarm clock.

 

The red numbers said that it was 2:15.

 

In the morning.

 

…

 

…

 

Hajime wanted to perish.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *peeks out from underneath a stack of papers*
> 
> So I did end up focusing more on my studies and kind of abandoned my stories during the exam period, oof. Things should get back to regular schedule soon enough. I passed, so I shouldn't be getting murdered anytime soon.


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Summary ™

_CHAPTER TWENTY_

Luckily, for Hajime and for everyone else, things calmed down for the next week.

 

Kazuichi avoided Gundham and conserved as much energy as he possibly could, while managing to keep everything else about his life as stable as possible. It wasn’t easy work, but it wasn’t overbearingly difficult, either.

 

Kiibo was still debating within himself whether to get that speed boost or not, and Kokichi was splitting his time between planning another prank and keeping to his regular schedule with Kiibo.

 

Hajime and Mikan were slowly coming to terms with the fact that they had probably managed to overlook a bunch of other succubi and incubi within the school, and were wondering if and how they would tell Shuuichi that they’d figured him out.

 

Shuuichi and Kaito were the ones who could be said to be having the most trouble.

 

Shuuichi’s memories blanked out around the time he’d initially latched onto Kaito, but he was able to fill in everything else relatively quickly.

 

Kaito’s memories blanked out slightly before that, and the most he could remember was that a glitter bomb had gone off and that he’d probably seen it. Everything else was… strangely hazy. He’d asked Shuuichi about it, but apparently, Shuuichi didn’t remember much, either.

 

The one thing they could mutually remember was what had happened when they’d woken up.

 

And that… well.

 

That was… something that neither of them were prepared to face. 


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kaito thinks over how things ended up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Or, "I can't remember half of the day yesterday and this confuses me," 2019 colorized, mixed with "oh my god how did this happen."

_CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE_

Kaito had woken up cuddling Shuuichi like an oversized teddy bear. And even though he'd felt sleepy to the point of being disoriented when he woke up, he could instantly tell that… _something_ had happened.

 

After he’d put two and two together, he’d gotten frozen with embarrassment, and it lasted up until Shuuichi woke up. For better or for worse, Shuuichi seemed to wake up just a little later than he had.

 

And all they’d been able to do was stare at each other as they quietly assessed the situation.

 

Kaito wasn’t sure if his hazy memory of the events before that had happened was a blessing or a curse, because, for the life of him, he couldn’t remember what had happened. That meant he had next to no context for how they’d ended up like… well, like _that_.

 

Kaito had needed a shower and a change of clothes after the awkward conversation that had ensued, and Shuuichi had seemed temporarily unable to look him in the eye.

 

(Not only that, but Kaito swore that there was something strange going on with the air around Shuuichi. Not a specific area, but just… the air _around_ his sidekick in general. The air seemed to move in the way it would when the weather was ridiculously hot, but as far as he could tell, Shuuichi didn’t look feverish.)

 

(What he _did_ look like was nervous and embarrassed, and it wasn’t as if Kaito didn’t feel the same way.)

 

(In fact, if it wouldn't have sounded ridiculous, he'd say something was being hidden from him. It was a gut feeling, and his gut hadn't steered him wrong before, but he wasn't sure if that would still apply for a situation like this. What would Shuuichi have had to hide, anyway?)

 

Shuuichi didn’t seem to remember much either, and for the first few days, they’d avoided the topic so obviously that it was a relief when they'd both just resorted to forgetting it ever happened.

 

Now, Kaito found himself trying to puzzle out just how everything had come together as it had, and he wasn’t making much progress. At this rate, he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to make _any_ progress on this…

 

He'd only managed to remember the fact that Shuuichi seemed to be tired earlier in the day. How that and the glitter bomb could be connected was beyond him. Either way, it had somehow acted as the catalyst that had finally prompted him to take Shuuichi to the nurse's office.

 

But why?

 

It wasn't as if Shuuichi had breathing problems, and him fainting would be out of the question…

 

Kaito _himself_ was the one that had fainted when the silver glitter bomb had been deployed earlier in the year, after all. It wasn't something that he'd readily admit, but on the day Kokichi had let that one explode, he'd already been feeling on edge.

 

And then when that flood of glitter had come out of absolutely nowhere, he'd actually passed out from the shock of witnessing it. Lucky for him, Shuuichi had been the only one there, and he hadn't told anyone. It was kind of childish, he knew, but he didn't need the entire school to know that he'd fainted because of a harmless prank.

 

Well… _harmless_ might not be the right description.

 

The cleanup for those incidents was probably just a few levels below impossible. He wasn't sure how everything was cleaned up so thoroughly…

 

Maybe it was one of the great mysteries of Hope's Peak. He wasn't interested in investigating it, so for him, it would probably stay that way.

 

So just like he'd given up on finding out how that happened, he'd have to give up the chance at figuring out how he and Shuuichi had ended up in that situation. For now, at least.

 

Just thinking about it was making him a little disoriented…


	22. Chapter 22

_ CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO _

Shuuichi had been an emotional wreck ever since that day. 

 

It had been obvious that he’d fed off of Kaito’s dreams, but what wasn’t obvious was the fact that as soon as he’d woken up, he’d felt a camouflage spell over his body. 

 

The fact that Mikan had seemed to be absent when they had woken up was… something that was making Shuuichi feel unsettled.

 

In fact… one could say that he was starting to get both worried and confused.

 

For some reason, he couldn’t fill in the details, even though he had his suspicions. By this point, he wasn’t even sure if filling in the details would even be worth it anymore. After all, it had already been a week. A week that had been… strangely peaceful, now that he thought about it.

 

He just hoped that things would be able to stay that way. He wasn’t sure if anyone was ready for another wide-scale disturbance…


	23. Chapter 23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Minor Plot Progression (tm)

_ CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE _

Shuuichi felt exhausted. Not physically, but emotionally.

 

It wasn’t surprising, really, considering that he’d spent the previous week tiptoeing over what felt like emotional landmines.

 

It didn’t take a genius to figure out that he’d fed on Kaito the previous week. He hadn’t woken up feeling  _ that  _ rested in a long time, and by some strange stroke of luck, someone had prevented him from reverting to his incubus form in his sleep.

 

What was unusual about the entire situation was the fact that Mikan had been nowhere to be found throughout the entire fiasco. She wasn’t there when they’d woken up, and Kaito had said that even though he wasn’t sure, he felt as if she probably hadn’t been there when they’d gotten there earlier.

 

If that was the case, how had they  _ not  _ woken up to some sort of mild disaster?

 

Something in the back of Shuuichi’s mind told him that there was definitely a lot more going on behind the scenes. He never had much cause to interact with anyone outside his class apart from Kyoko, so it would be strange if he tried to ask Mikan about this out of the blue.

 

Especially when he was suspecting something like…  _ this _ .

 

He might not have been an expert, but he could sense traces of foreign magic around the entire nurse’s office. And not magic that seemed out of place; magic hat seemed to be in harmony with the environment. Not only had it been around the room; it had been around  _ him _ , protecting him as he woke up.

 

And he knew the feel of demon magic quite well. But this wasn’t just any  _ ordinary  _ demon magic, no. He knew exactly what sort of demon would be able to let off magic like that.

 

But… it didn’t add up.

 

Mikan, of all people? A succubus? Sure, he himself wasn’t the poster boy for the typical incubus, but this was just pushing it.

 

And why incubi and succubi specifically? Could there be no other type of demon in this school?

 

(The thought of that was mildly terrifying, honestly. It was either a series of coincidences or something so contrived that he’d swear that either God, Satan or both had something to do with it.)

 

(And where divinity interfered, calamity wasn’t too far behind…)

 

Shuuichi sighed, slumping over his desk. The answer was right in front of him, but he wasn’t willing to accept it. Would anyone blame him, though? Something like this would be overwhelming at the best of times, and this definitely didn’t count as the best of times at all…

 

Before he could further push himself in the direction of a moping session, he heard something.

 

It sounded like a bell.

 

A bell that had… gone off right beside him?

 

What? 

 

He sat up, looking in the direction where the sound had come from. It didn’t take him long to see what had caused it: the piece of paper that was giving off purple sparks wasn’t hard to miss.

 

The magic coming off of it was the same one he’d felt in the nurse’s office.

 

His heart sank as he reached for it, then unfolded it.

 

_ Nffu vt ofbs uif cbdl pg uif tdippm bu gjwf qn. _

 

It was written in small, neat handwriting that was slightly shaky. Probably a note from Mikan herself. 

 

Why was it written in code, then? Was she expecting it to be intercepted or was she just taking precautions? Whatever the case, since it just involved letters, it would be easy to figure out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *c l a p s*
> 
> I'm probably overreacting on this one, but about the letter in the end. Yes, they speak and write Japanese, so the reason it's in barely-coded English is because of Translation Convention. (look it up on TV Tropes...) 
> 
> And the letter isn't really coded all that well, honestly. Just compare it to the regular alphabet for a while, and you should b able to see through it pretty quickly. I'm not a code-master.


	24. Chapter 24

_ CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR _

“Hajime? Was it a good idea to write a letter like that?” Mikan asked.

 

Hajime shrugged. “At the very least, he’ll be less likely to think it’s a hoax.”

 

“Are you sure this was a good idea?”

 

“Nope. But it was the best one I could think of right now…”

 

“W-Well… I guess we should start heading to the back of the school, then. It’s getting close to five.”

 

“You’re right. Let’s go.”

 


	25. Chapter 25

_ CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE _

Anyone looking at Shuuichi Saihara at 4:55 PM on that day would wonder if he was being threatened. 

 

To put it succinctly, he was running as if he was being pursued by some sort of lethal threat. Or maybe, as if his life was at stake.

 

Or as if his secret identity had been put at risk.

 

Either way, Shuuichi was mentally running through a long list of things that he could do if this all went south. Most of them amounted to “run away and cry in a secluded area,” and a few of them were straight-up “flee the school.”

 

He was hoping he wouldn’t have to put any of that into action, though. He did have enough stamina to do it now, but that didn’t mean he was willing to try…

 

He arrived at the back of the school, using some mana to clear out his system instead of waste time panting. He looked around as he walked forward, eyes and ears open for any out-of-place sound.

 

He might have been taken by surprise by the letter, but he wasn’t going to be taken aback by this too.

 

Soon enough, he heard footsteps coming from behind him, and he turned around as if he’d been set on fire. 

 

He didn’t have to wait for long, since the people soon came into view.

 

Shuuichi’s eyes widened. Two upperclassmen… Tsumiki Mikan and Hajime Hinata, the Ultimate Nurse and Class 77’s collective friend from the Reserve Course respectively.

 

They were… meant to be a succubus and incubus respectively. Shuuichi knew that it wasn’t his place to judge, but he couldn’t help but feel a little surprised. Satan’s power managed to worm its way into some of the most unassuming vessels, it seemed…

 

Maybe this discussion might not be too harrowing after all.

 

(He hoped so.)

 

(He really,  _ really  _ hoped so.)


	26. Chapter 26

_CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX_

Mikan felt nervous as the three of them stood in a loose triangular formation, just looking at each other. Or, more appropriately, Shuuichi and Hajime seemed to be sizing each other up and Mikan was looking between them, hoping nothing would escalate.

 

It would only take a few seconds for the barrier spell to fall into place, and after that, they’d be able to talk freely…

 

A few seconds after she’d thought of it, the tinkling of bells sounded in the air, and the air around them distorted slightly, waving oddly and glowing with a reddish-pink hue before turning back to normal.

 

“A barrier spell?” the second Ultimate Detective asked.

 

Mikan nodded. “It’s… m-mainly to make sure no one will… s-see us…”

 

“Even if they do see us,” Hajime added, “they’ll forget within seconds. What’s going to happen for most people is that their minds will block everything out on a base level. Not even the most dedicated supernatural enthusiasts will have enough charms to negate this effect.”

 

Shuuichi sighed in relief. “Thank goodness…”

 

“Who’s g-going to detransform f-first?” Mikan asked.

 

Hajime shrugged. “Whoever wants to first, I guess. Unless we all choose to detransform simultaneously.”

 

“That sounds… less stressful…” Shuuichi said.

 

“T-True…”   
  


“Alright, then, on the count of three,” Hajime said. “One, two, three!”

 

Mikan squeezed her eyes shut as she let her camouflage magic fall. Almost instantly, she could feel the difference. 

 

Her magical energy flow was far less restrained than it had been just a second ago, and she could once again feel her horns, winge and tail. Clenching her fists together, she could also feel her claws. She sighed, stretching a bit before opening her eyes.

 

Her horns could be considered a little small for her age, the small nubs seeming to barely peek out of her forehead. However, her wings were considerably large, almost as if to balance that out.

 

Her tail was equally balanced in length and thickness, and it ended with the heart-shaped tip which marked her as a succubus. The tip of her tail was a bit more sensitive than most people’s tails were, so she’d gained a habit of curling it to her front and holding the lower third of her tail in front of her. It had started as a nervous habit, and it had evolved into something that was a bit necessary for her.

 

Her horns, tail, and wings were the same pale purple as her eyes. Her hands, forearms, feet, and shins were also the same color. However, her upper arms and thighs were a normal skin color. The reason for this was because the purple areas were scales, and for some strange reason, they tapered off rather quickly, slowly turning into skin. And as it did so, her skin seemed to go from purple to a normal, pale flesh color.

 

Hell knew why incubi and succubi typically looked this way. Only high-level lust demons would be completely covered in scales, and the amount of coverage the scales had was equivalent to how much power the demon had.

 

Suffice it to say, it was unlikely to meet one who wasn’t a mid-tier. 

 

She looked over at her two companions, taking in their appearances.

 

Hajime’s scales were the same green as his eyes, and his claws were more pronounced than hers. His tail-tip was a little sharper as well, and his tail seemed to be twitching with a mix of nervousness or curiosity.

 

His pupils were slitted, like a snake’s, and his horns were medium-sized. They swooped sideways, like a buffalo's, and she could imagine him headbutting someone with them if he was irritated enough.

 

They’d probably have a sore head, but it shouldn’t cause major injury…

 

Shuuichi’s scales were that strange mix of gold and gray, seeming to fluctuate at every given moment. His pupils were heart-shaped, which was a pleasant surprise. People like her who had heart-shaped pupils instead of slitted ones weren’t rare, per se, but she hadn’t seen many others who shared this trait with her.

 

It was nice to have found someone else.

 

His horns were like small ram’s horns, curling over his ears. They weren’t quite as small as hers, but they were definitely smaller than Hajime’s. His claws also seemed to be on the small side, but his tail was a little longer. However, the tip looked as if it was in the process of recovering from being engorged, most probably thanks to the deep feeding session he’d had a week ago.

 

Mikan couldn’t help but blush a little at the memory. The tips of the tails of incubi and succubi… were special. They stored a percentage of the energy they absorbed, and they also acted as pheromone glands.

 

Therefore, any engorging of the tail tip was usually caused by one of two things. Thing number one was a recent feeding, and thing number two was a backlog of pheromones.

 

(It definitely wasn’t because of reason number two. His pheromones were still lingering a little in the infirmary… not like it was a terrible thing, but it was the truth.)

 

Both Shuuichi and Hajime seemed to prefer tucking their wings in, so she had to guess they were something around medium-sized to small. She wasn’t flamboyant, but it was always more comfortable for her to let her wings spread a little. Keeping them tightly tucked in could get painful after a while… 

  
  


It took a few minutes of observing each other for a discussion to arise.

 

“So... “ Shuuichi started. “I’m… guessing I gave myself away last week, huh.”

 

“From what Mikan told me, and the sheer amount of magic and pheromones that was around the infirmary for a while? Yep.”

 

Shuuichi blushed.

 

“Eh… that’s not so bad... “ Mikan said, hoping to stave off the embarrassment. “At least you weren’t found during the early stages of feeding withdrawal…”

 

Shuuichi winced. “Ah… that happened to be a while before I got here… it wasn’t fun at all.”

 

“At least you had prior experience, though. When I found Mikan, I was initially scared out of my wits,” Hajime said. “It kind of does a number on pheromone control…”

 

Mikan felt her wings try to plaster themselves onto her back. “At least I remembered proper protocol and locked myself in a room… no need for accidentally starting an orgy.”

 

Shuuichi sighed. “At least you got that far. If my uncle hadn’t found me sooner… I’m not sure I’d have been able to control the fallout.”

 

She and Hajime hissed in sympathy at the same time. 

 

“It…  _ almost  _ happened to me once,” Hajime admitted, wincing. “It was plain luck that I managed to scramble my way out of that one. Scheduling feedings usually helps.”

 

“When you remember the schedule, that is…” Mikan said, sighing. 

 

Shuuichi’s tail wrapped around his leg. “That’s the hard part.”

 

“S-Sometimes circumstances get in the way…” Mikan started.

 

“Other times it’s work…” Shuuichi continued.

 

“And sometimes it comes up and you either have no interest or you feel as if you could hold out for a little longer,” Hajime finished. “And then, voila, disaster.”

 

They all burst into laughter at that, and Mikan wondered just how much of it came from relief that the conversation seemed to be turning out well, and how much of it came from nervousness.

 

After they’d recovered, the conversation moved along with far less hesitation than there had been before.


	27. Chapter 27

_ CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN _

What the sex demons down below didn’t realize was that they weren’t the only ones privy to their conversation.

 

What had started off as a flight taken out of boredom soon evolved into something far more interesting. Kokichi had just finished with touching up all of the minor details in his latest prank, and had some free time to burn. He hadn’t wanted to jump right into chasing Kiibo, but he’d wanted to expend a little energy.

 

So, after a “see-me-not” spell followed by him shedding his human disguise, he’d decided to take a short flight. Imagine his surprise when he’d initially seen Shuuichi running as if a dominion had dropped straight from heaven to eliminate him.

 

He’d run to the back of the school, soon followed by Hajime and Mikan, and after a barrier spell had been put up, they’d shed their \disguises and started talking. Since he’d had nothing better to do, he’d found a nearby tree to hide in as he watched them.

 

It  _ was  _ a conversation with a purpose, but it meandered quite a bit. It seemed as if Mikan and Hajime had  _ somehow  _ discovered that Shuuichi was one of them the previous week and had only reached out now.

 

Probably because of panic.

 

Kokichi frowned. There were… an awful lot of incubi and succubi at this school. It was a bit strange, really.

 

He knew about most of them, thanks to various tells in their actions. Hajime was one he’d been suspecting on and off for a while, but he’d all but confirmed that Mikan was probably one.

 

Appearances didn’t mean anything; practically no one at this school fit conventional  _ human  _ standards, so meeting conventional  _ demon  _ standards was something not to be thought about most of the time.

 

He’d have to go over his list of “suspects” soon. Hell, he could do it now. They'd hit a low point when it came to interesting things to listen to, anyway.

 

Shuuichi’s obvious signs of underfeeding had made him stick out like a sore thumb. Conversely, the way Miu always seemed to be slightly overfed had kicked her oversized ass out. Never mind the fact that she wore bondage gear; her aura leaked all over the place like some sort of oil slick. 

 

Mikan’s aura seemed to switch between being unidentifiable and overbearing, probably because of her mood swings. Hajime’s aura didn’t fluctuate as noticeably as hers did, but it did so enough to cause minor suspicion.

 

Teruteru’s aura seemed to have absolutely no chill, either just barely managing to stay away from being completely starved or being so stuffed it was almost sickening. 

 

(Kokichi sometimes wondered if the Ultimate Cook had a few demons of greed in the family as well…)

 

Makoto and Toko’s were basically on display at any given time. With how blockheaded most humans were today when it came to the perception of spiritual things, it was obvious why some demons would skimp on aura disguising, but they seemed to have some sort of innate ability to turn suspicion off of them. From Makoto’s plain appearance to Toko’s slightly more pronounced but still quiet one, it was obvious why most people wouldn’t look at them twice as humans, thoughtless as of supernatural beings.

 

Kazuichi Souda and Junko Enoshima, however…

 

Those were the two he was still on the fence on.


	28. Chapter 28

_ CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT _

Kazuichi’s well-known disdain for the paranormal would have instantly ruled him off of most people’s speculation lists. However, most demons had to feign ignorance these days when it came to supernatural matters. Outright denial or even unease would bring less attention in specific environments, and Kokichi had to assume Kazuichi had spent most of his life in such a place.

 

That, or he was trying to make sure Sonia and Gundham were thoroughly thrown off-track. 

 

Whatever the case, apart from that, his aura was one of the trickiest Kokichi had had to deal with for quite a while. He could say that the upperclassman’s aura was almost as well-concealed as his own.  _ Almost  _ because there had still been a few slip-ups which had managed to put some suspicion on him.

 

A few sharp spikes of demonic power were usually considered enough to expose someone, but it could also be someone who was letting a demonic entity reside in their body. The chance of that was low, but with the knowledge of some of the humans Kokichi had encountered in the past, it couldn’t be ruled out.

 

Plus, that could explain his apparent aversion to the supernatural. Being bound to such an entity was supposedly unpleasant, and the entity itself could cause such reactions in order to deflect suspicion off its host.

 

He was still holding out on that, however.

 

Now, Junko…

 

…

 

The Ultimate Fashionista was a case and a half of her own.

 

The sheer amount of demonic aura the girl exuded was absolutely ridiculous. He wasn’t sure if it was coming naturally from her or if this was the result of some sort of family curse or complete possession.

 

She was flaunting that aura as if it was a fancy handbag, and no one,  _ absolutely no one,  _ **_even fellow incubi and succubi,_ ** seemed to notice.

 

He wasn’t sure if it was because of some sort of unspoken agreement to not react to it or if it was a fear-induced reaction. The only sort of sex demon that could exude that much power and get away with it like that was usually extremely powerful, especially with how stable it was.

 

If she was a succubus, she’d gained some slightly unwilling approval from him. He wasn’t interested in getting her riled up, or even interacting in general, really. It wasn’t that he was weak; far from it. He just wasn’t ready to start overtly picking fights.

 

He yawned, rubbing at the base of one of his horns. They were closer to the traditional demon horns, curving out from his forehead in a smooth slope, ending in points that would cause pain and bleeding for anyone he decided to headbutt with them.

 

(Yes, he’d done it before.)

 

(It had usually taken quite a bit of premeditation and split-second timing, though. Most demons who saw his horns and knew his speed weren’t all that keen on close-range fighting.)

 

(Neither was he, but sometimes, it just turned out that way.)

 

The discussion below him seemed to be coming to an end, so it was time to get going. They’d stopped talking about anything of much use to him a while ago, but he hadn’t completely tuned out because of it. Random juicy tidbits tended to come when people were least expecting it, after all.

 

However, the tidbits seemed to have avoided this particular conversation.

  
So Kokichi yawned, stretched as best as he could and flew off as the three below him dispersed. He’d learned  _ some  _ new information thanks to their conversation, so it hadn’t been a complete waste…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If the description of Kokichi's horns at the end didn't make sense, just look up Shuten Douji fgo. His horns look like hers. However, due to the horny-ass fanbase of that particular game, I will say I'm not accountable for what horny stuff you see when looking it up.


	29. Chapter 29

_ CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE _

While the discussions and spying had been going on, Makoto had been elsewhere in the school, spending time with one of his classmates.

 

Well, not just  _ any  _ classmate. 

 

He was getting to listen to one of Junko Enoshima’s most recent escapades, firsthand from the Ultimate Fashionista herself. And in spite of himself, he had wo wonder just what sort of human she was, to be able to pull half of this off.

 

Really. He was the full-blooded incubus here, and he wasn’t as reckless as  _ this _ …

 

He was brought back to the present by the sound of Junko’s laughter. “What’s the matter, Makoto?” she asked. “You look a little wonderstruck.”

 

Makoto looked at her, then shrugged. “I guess that I am. I’m just an ordinary person who's lived an ordinary life, and… well, around half of the things you get up to sometimes sound beyond outlandish.”

 

She smiled, and Makoto wasn’t sure if it was just nervousness, but her canines seemed to get sharper for a few seconds. “Oooh, is that it? I have photographic proof that I did all if this!” She took out her phone, and Makoto knew that he was going to be thoroughly occupied for the next half hour at this rate.

 

At the very least, it would take his mind off the mild feeling of unease he’d been feeling on and off for the past week. Sure, the issue that Byakuya and Kyoko were talking about had a high chance of being a fluke, but…

 

Anything relating to people trying to expose demons wasn’t good. And if they’d managed to gain such traction that Byakuya and Kyoko of all people were talking about something like that in an official capacity…

 

…

 

He didn’t want to think about it. 


	30. Chapter 30

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Attempted Plot Progression (tm)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm hoping the formatting isn't too overdone in this chapter, lol.

_CHAPTER THIRTY_

**C-RANK AUTHORIZATION ATTAINED**

**SELECTION PROCEEDING…**

 

**_UNKNOWN FILE S-31_ **

_FORMAT:_ AUDIO WITH TRANSCRIPTION

 _MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION:_ The origin of this file is untraceable. The agents sent to retrieve the information within the file have since gone missing. Proceed with caution.

                                                  The individuals within the file have not yet been identified. The transcriptions reflect this. 

                                                  The file you are about to experience has been modified due to your [C-RANK AUTHORIZATION]. Proceed with that in mind.

                                                   

 

 _STATUS:_  IN THE PROCESS OF **ACTIVE DECRYPTION**

**PROCEEDING…**

 

 _LOCATION:_ **UNKNOWN**

 _TIME:_   **XX/XX/20XX**

_MEETING NUMBER XXX_

_MEETING START:_ **XX:XX**

 

 **PERSON C:** Okay, so we’re all here, yes?

 

 **PERSON B:** I assume so.

 

 **PERSON A:** Can’t you see?

 

 **PERSON C:** I can, I’m just trying to ensure that everyone is awake for this meeting. You know, to avoid what happened last time, [REDACTED]?

 

 **PERSON A:** Shut up.

 

 **PERSON B:** You should be the one to do that. We had a one-hour meeting, and you missed over half of it because of your irresponsible decisions. For this meeting, we cannot afford having such oversights.

 

 **PERSON A:** Whatever.

 

 **PERSON C:** Not so brave now, are you?

 

 **PERSON A:** Shut the fuck up. Can we actually start having a fucking meeting now?

 

 **PERSON C:** Wow, you’re not running away from work for once? Miracles really do happen!

 

 **PERSON B:** Come on now, [REDACTED], leave [REDACTED] alone. We need to start getting down to business soon anyway. We can torment [REDACTED] later.

 

 **PERSON A:** REally fucking encouraging, guys. Damn, I hate working with the two of you. I miss my old team…

 

 **PERSON B:** Take it up with the higher-ups if you’re so unhappy about it.

 

 **PERSON A:** Whatever. If you two won’t actually start the discussion, I will. By this point, we all know that the legal way of doing things didn’t work. Isn’t that right, [REDACTED]?

 

 **PERSON B:** Oh, [REDACTED], be quiet. It was worth a shot, in any case. We were able to firmly close that avenue and deem it unusable, so we can continue on with our own methods without fear.

 

 **PERSON A:** Well, [REDACTED], it was a fucking stupid test. But at least your ridiculous standards have been satisfied. Now, what makes you think that school would be the best choice to start focusing on?

 

 **PERSON C:** Wait, what school are we talking about?

 

 **PERSON A:** We’re talking about [REDACTED], dumbass! You know, the one the the entire damn country idolizes?!

 

 **PERSON C:** Oh, that one… but still, did you need to yell at me so loudly?

 

 **PERSON B:** [REDACTED], watch your tongue, please. This is an official meeting of [REDACTED], not some bar where you can swear your nonexistent heart out and spew all sorts of foul language.

 

 **PERSON A:** Whatever. Can you just explain _why_ you think that setting up devices in [REDACTED] would be such a good idea, anyway? For fuck’s sake, the security there is probably ridiculous, and taking it on might not be such a bright idea…

 

 **PERSON B:** I have the highest and clearest clairvoyance out of everyone in this organization, and my most recent vision was of that place.

 

 **PERSON A:** Oh, really? Aren’t half of you so-called _visions_ nothing more than just blurry, vague scenarios that you need to take time to reflect on? And the ones that come up in a more comprehensible fashion are the ones that lead to the riskiest missions we ever need to take!

 

 **PERSON C:** Speaking of that, [REDACTED], what sort of vision did you have this time?

 

 **PERSON B:** I had a clear vision this time.

 

 **PERSON A:** Fuck!

 

 **PERSON B:** Oh, shut up!

 **PERSON C:** Oh, shut up!

 

 **PERSON A:** How do you think the higher-ups are going to react when we have to tell them that we need to go on another wild goose chase again?

 

 **PERSON C:** That’s one of the weakest arguments I’ve heard from you yet. Are you feeling okay?  
  
**PERSON A:** Oh, very funny.

 

 **PERSON B:** Maybe you’ve forgotten, [REDACTED], but the most perilous missions we have undergone tend to be some of the most rewarding. It’s not anyone’s fault but your own if you can’t handle a little bit of hard work.

 

 **PERSON A:** Oh, fuck off. So how the hell are we going to plant scrying devices into the government’s largest and most successful pet project, huh? Have you figured that out, o great and mighty seer?

 

 **PERSON B:** Watch your tone! And of course I’ve figured it out. Unlike _someone_ in this room, I figure things out in advance, and I don’t simply rush into things blindly.

 

 **PERSON A:** Hey!

 

 **PERSON B:** Shut up, [REDACTED].

 **PERSON C:** Shut up, [REDACTED]!

 

 **PERSON A:** Fine… why don’t you explain your so-called plan?

 

 **PERSON B:** Thank you for finally recognizing the person whose the smartest in the room. Now, here’s the plan--

 

**ERROR!**

 

**ACTIVE DECRYPTION HAS FAILED.**

**THE REMAINING PART OF THIS FILE IS TOO CORRUPTED TO PROCEED.**

**FILING ERROR REPORT...**

 

**REDIRECTION IN PROCESS...**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember what Kyoko and Byakuya discussed earlier in the story?


	31. Chapter 31

_CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE_

In the dark of the night, something happened to Hope’s Peak.

 

A small golem snuck onto the campus. The magical runes carved into its body made sure that modern technology wouldn’t be able to detect it, so its mission would not be impeded by such means. 

 

Security cameras would not register it. Neither would motion detectors. Even normal human eyes had no way to see it. This made sure that the plan would be able to succeed.

 

The golem itself wasn’t important. No, the thing that was truly important was the small device implanted in its back. Once it got to its destination, the device would activate, and the plan would be set in motion.

 

Of course, the golem itself didn’t know that. It didn’t know anything, really. It was a simple golem, enchanted to have a one-track mission: get to a certain spot on the school campus. 

 

That place turned out to be at the side of one of the most-used hallways in the school. Or, more appropriately, a sizeable tuft of grass beside the hallway. The golem scuttled into it and seemed to burrow down into it slightly, before curling into a small ball. 

 

After it finished doing that, the mana flow within the golem ceased, effectively deactivating it. But as the golem deactivated, the device on its back activated. It glowed a faint blue-gray for a few seconds before the glow dimmed down, and with it, any trace of active mana flow.

 

The stage was set, and the remaining player would soon arrive.


	32. Chapter 32

_CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO_

Makoto felt as if he was being held down. Part of him was screaming, screaming for him to wake up, to move, to do _something_. But even though he desperately wanted to obey his instincts, his body seemed incapable of movement.

 

Right when he felt that he was about to scream, he woke up, sitting up so quickly that he had to take a few moments to try and stabilize himself. His wings both helped and hindered his attempts to compose himself, but he managed to use them to balance, stretching them out to their full wingspan before closing them making sure they were almost plastered to his back.

 

After he calmed down, he sighed and shook his head. That was… strange, to say the least. He didn’t remember dreaming about anything, but the sudden fear that had taken hold of him was startlingly clear. What on earth could have kicked that off?

 

He had no idea.

 

He looked at his alarm clock to find out what the time was, and almost fell off his bed in shock.

 

Instead of normal-looking numbers, it looked like… some strange version of software gore that logically had no place being on an alarm clock. He blinked slowly, hoping that the numbers would correct themselves without any issue.

 

Of course, the hopes of a demon couldn’t be granted, because, after a few seconds, the gibberish changed into something that struck fear through him so thoroughly that he thought that he was going to lose consciousness.

 

**99:99**

 

As soon as he was able to process the number, he rushed to unplug his alarm clock.

 

For a few seconds afterward, he stared at it, wondering why the hell that had happened. Not only was that number... a little unsettling, but the way the alarm had malfunctioned was strange. It had... never done anything like that before, and he hadn't even known that it had the ability to do that.

 

He breathed in deeply, then breathed out, trying to calm himself. His tail thumped against the ground for a few seconds before emoving to coil around his leg.

 

When he plugged it back in again, whatever nonsense that had happened a few minutes earlier had truncated itself. However, learning that he’d woken up at three am wasn’t very encouraging.

 

All he could do was crawl back into bed and hope that he wouldn’t wake up again after going to bed.

 

...if he could actually get back to sleep…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The numbers thing. I googled "unlucky numbers in Japan" and picked the most... applicable result.
> 
> >The word for "nine" in Japanese sounds similar to the word for "pain and suffering."  
> >Source: https://www.fluentu.com/blog/japanese/japanese-superstitions/ 
> 
> I'm pretty sure that if something like the incident in this chapter happened in real life, there would be four instances of the number eight instead of nine because all of the tiny glowing stick-things that create the numbers would be glowing at once. But drama requires... a lack of logic.
> 
> A lack of logic is also why the alarm clock actually acted that way. But I'm just going to handwave that with a combination of Makoto's luck and some possible magical interference.


	33. Chapter 33

_ CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE _

The next day, Makoto felt like a zombie. He wasn’t sure whether it was a good thing that he’d even managed to fall asleep at all, because right when he felt that he was finally getting some actual rest, his alarm clock decided to ring. Combine _that_ with what had happened during the night and he was half-certain that it was trying to mess with him.

 

Either that or his bad luck had decided to double down on him. Whichever it was, it had succeeded - he felt like shit, and he wouldn't be surprised if he looked like it as well. He felt like his limbs were weighing him down, and his eyelids seemed to be trying to clamp themselves shut. It would only take a little more exhaustion before he was yawning like a cat and tripping over his tail.

 

If this had been any other school, Makoto would have formulated some sort of excuse to stay in bed. But even though classes weren't mandatory at Hope's Peak, the teachers were strict when it came to attendance. His homeroom teacher could be considered to be one of the less-responsible ones, but even he had the morning headcount as a regular occurrence.

 

Luckily, that was all the teacher cared about. Whether you took notes and paid attention or slept through the class, they could care less.

 

And he was going to take full advantage of that when classtime arrived. However, for now, he'd have to try and stay awake. He was supposed to join Sakura and Aoi for yet another bout of early-morning exercise, and he didn't want to disappoint them. Sure, they wouldn't hold it against them, but he didn't want to risk it. And a less-wholesome reason for that was giving himself at least some sort of flimsy alibi for being tired on the off chance that the teacher asked. 

 

Besides, exercise was important.

 

He felt a bit better after taking a shower, but he still felt overwhelmingly tired. Maybe some fresh air would do him a little good... taking the long route to get to his classmates probably wouldn't end up with him getting there late. Walking around a little more might help him feel less exhausted, and that could help both the exercise and his class performance. A win-win situation.

 

...---...

 

 

He wasn't the only one out and about, obviously. But he was sure that he was one of the most exhausted-looking of all of them. Some people were early risers. Others just couldn't sleep well. And there were probably a few who'd had to stay up late rushing through homework, or cramming for tests. 

 

Even with all that, not many people were out and about, so even the hallways that were busiest later in the day were practically deserted. Some people might think of it as eerie, but he didn't really think much of it. Hope's Peak might have been full of extraordinary people, but not everything was completely surprising. Things had a rhythm of their own around here, and that was good enough.

 

It was a reassuring thought. And from there, his mind started to wander to even more inconsequential topics...

 

...for a grand total of three seconds. He quickly got called back into reality when he heard something rustle in the grass near the path he was walking on.

 

Before he could fully process it, he found himself looking for what had made the noise, crouching down and looking around in the grass. He tentatively started running his hands through it in an attempt to find whatever it was, feeling a strange sense of urgency as he did so.

 

His hand brushed against something that felt like some sort of stone, and when he moved to pick it up, he was blinded by a bright, blue-grey light.

 

 

That was the last thing he saw before his world went dark.


	34. Chapter 34

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The organization has its own problems...

_CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR_

**B-RANK AUTHORIZATION ATTAINED**

**PROCEEDING…**

 

**PRE-RECORDED FEED OF BASE A-3**

_FORMAT:_ AUDIO WITH TRANSCRIPTION

_MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION:_ The individuals in this base have recently breached policy. Be on high alert. FIle a report as soon as anything even vaguely breaching policy is heard.

 

**WARNING:** ANY SENSITIVE INFORMATION WITHIN THIS RECORDING WILL BE AUTOMATICALLY ENCRYPTED IN ORDER TO PROTECT THIS FILE IN CASE OF POTENTIAL INFILTRATION. IT IS EXPECTED THAT YOU HAVE SOME RUDIMENTARY UNDERSTANDING OF THE EVENTS WHICH WILL BE DISCUSSED. 

 

**PROCEEDING...**

 

LOCATION: [REDACTED]

TIME:  XX/XX/20XX

MEETING NUMBER XXXX

MEETING START XX:XX

  
  


**PERSON A:** Holy shit! Holy fucking _shit_ , are you guys seeing this?!

 

**PERSON B:** We’d have to be less intelligent than you in order to not understand what’s going on! One of the demons has been stunned! [REDACTED], pinpoint the mana signature!

 

**PERSON C:** I’m on it!

 

**PERSON A:** It ran right into it! I knew they were young, but if all of them have this same lack of sense, it’s going to be a _breeze_ to take all of them down. I can’t wait to see it when we capture it…

 

**PERSON C:** At this rate, we’re not only going to get one; a perfunctory scan is revealing plenty of them! All of them in their prime, and some of them absolutely bursting with power!

 

**PERSON B:** Project the results as they come in; I can’t stand the suspense!

 

**PERSON C:** Give me a moment… ah-hah! Done!

 

**PERSON A:** What in the goddamn…?!

**PERSON B:** What in the goddamn…?!

 

**PERSON A:** They’ve practically turned the school into a stronghold! Could this be some sort of conspiracy?

 

**PERSON B:** It has to be; there’s no reasonable explanation for so many of them to be in one place. Get a good scan of all of their magical auras, we might be able to trace their genealogies from that. This has to be some sort of conspiracy; there’s no way this could be a coincidence.

 

**PERSON A:** Coincidence, my ass. Remember what the American branch reported? The damn things are still trying to get their hooks into humans even though almost no one believes in magic or religion these days. Disgusting things… can’t wait to dissect them.

 

**PERSON C:** You managed to get a study permit from the higher-ups? 

 

**PERSON A:** Yeah. It took a while to convince them, but they eventually saw the light. The entire organization as a whole has evolved from only being able to perform exorcisms to being able to torture them for information when needed,  _ then  _ exorcising them.

 

**PERSON B:** But even _that_ requires an intensive amount of specialized materials.

 

**PERSON A:** Exactly. But where has it been getting us? Nowhere, that’s where. The default has only shifted a little, it hasn’t truly evolved. But with some of the new developments the research, science and weapons departments have been able to come up with, we need to start going further.

 

**PERSON B:** And how does _dissection_ come into this?

 

**PERSON A:** Dissecting the damn things would help find new weak points we can use to develop new, more damaging weapons. If we can get enough samples, we might even be able to figure out a way to kill the damn things without using suicide units.

 

**PERSON C:** That  _ does  _ sound more efficient…

 

**PERSON A:** [REDACTED]. Are you fucking serious?  _ Anything  _ would be more efficient than sending out highly specialized combatants on suicide missions that have a fifty-fifty chance to either kill the demons or get themselves killed! Don’t you remember the spectacular results of Operation [REDACTED]?

 

**PERSON B:** [REDACTED], there are many things that we need to be reminded of, and  _ that  _ isn’t one of them. 

 

**PERSON C:**  Exactly. Even the higher-ups don’t like it when people mention Operation [REDACTED], [REDACTED], thoughtless of myself or anyone else for that matter..

 

**PERSON A:** Uh huh. They don’t like it when people refer to Operations [REDACTED], [REDACTED], [REDACTED], [REDACTED] and [REDACTED] either. They’re the reason why the entire damn organization is dormant!

 

**PERSON B:** _ Maybe,  _ **_just maybe,_ ** they don’t want to be reminded of the Fatal Five because all of those made us lose over half of [REDACTED]. We nearly lost Bases [REDACTED], [REDACTED] and [REDACTED] because of those. 

 

**PERSON C:** And that’s not even counting the number of people who tried to defect from the organization after that. It nearly made the [REDACTED] Division into a laughingstock. I'm not even going to elaborate on what it did to the organization's reputation as a whole; having such an important division get smeared so extensively was bad enough.

 

**PERSON A:** And do you remember the wonderful  _ wisdom  _ that the higher-ups decided to use? The one that further decimated our already-reduced forces? The [REDACTED] Cleanse?

 

**PERSON B:** Shut up, [REDACTED].

 

**PERSON A:** How about no, [REDACTED]? You’re going to fucking  _ listen  _ to me for once in your pampered life!

 

**PERSON B:** Who the hell are you calling pampered?

 

**PERSON A:** Your family is part of the [REDACTED], you fucking idiot! I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but that’s part of the reason everyone sucks up to you like a bunch of leeches on a warm body!

 

**PERSON B:** Do you know the people I lost in those incidents? I had to endure that not only on an organizational level, but a personal level as well! Don’t you dare call me pampered, [REDACTED]! Don’t you fucking _dare_!

 

**PERSON A:** I  _ can  _ and I  _ will _ ! We already have the technology that we need to restrain the beasts for long periods of time! All we need is a few slight modifications, and then we’ll go from restraining them in torture rooms to restraining them for dissections and whatever else people think of. We know that they can be sedated, and for once, the materials needed for it aren’t scarce. Getting information about the enemy is going to be a breeze, and using that information to kill the damn things is going to be easier! Can’t you  _ see  _ that this organization has been trying to solve this in the wrong way?! I’m trying to put it back on track, so don’t fucking come and pull any ‘resources’ bullshit! We have the personnel that can carry out this sort of thing, and we have the security to keep the damn things out! You can’t even act as if I’m being radical about this; it’s a natural extension of what [REDACTED] has been doing for  _ centuries _ ! 

 

**PERSON B:** Are you so taken in with yourself that you can’t see the implications of what you’re saying? All of the specimens are in [REDACTED], you fool! You know, the school that the government funds generously? The one that holds children from some of the  _ highest-ranking families in this country _ ? Even if there are some who are from unnotable lineages, do you know what friendships can do to people? Do you know how easily swayed the parents of the wealthy ones can be when their brat  _ nags  _ them to do something? Do you know that the government is still attempting to track us down?

 

**PERSON A:** And  _ who  _ was the one who supported the move that got the government to track us down in the first place? Hmm? Can you tell me, [REDACTED]? Can you  _ fucking  _ tell me who the  _**motherfucking** _ **_idiot_ ** **_was_ ** ?!

 

**PERSON C:** Alright, I think we need to calm down--

 

**PERSON A:** _ Shut up, [REDACTED]! _

**PERSON B:** _ Shut up, [REDACTED]! _

 

**PERSON B:** Don’t you pin this on me! How the hell was I meant to know that the government would try to raid us instead of not even bother? Besides, I don’t think you realize yet, but that same government is running the place where all of your current potential test subjects are relaxing in! Even though they might suspect anything, they probably wouldn’t suspect that we’ve set our sites there! And if we go along with your suggestion, it wouldn't take a nuclear physicist to figure out that we are some of the most potential culprits! All we can do is observe them!

 

**PERSON A:** Observe, observe, observe! Is that what we’ve been reduced to?

 

**PERSON B:** For [REDACTED]’s sake, [REDACTED], we can’t do anything that intensive! All of those incidents you were so  _ generous  _ enough to remind us of severely decimated our personnel! We don't have enough people to both study the demons and keep efficient security protocols up to standard!  We’re already having problems as it is, and your plan is far too risky!

 

**PERSON A:** Not when Project [REDACTED] is put in place, it won’t be dangerous.

 

**PERSON B:** _**WHAT?!**_

**PERSON C:** _**WHAT?!**_

 

**PERSON B:** You convinced them to… to resort to  _ that _ ?!

 

**PERSON C:** Do either of the parties involved know just how dangerous that would be?

 

**PERSON A:** Desperate times call for desperate measures, and we’re not exactly in fantastic form right now.

 

**PERSON B:** How were you able to convince them in the first place? And even speaking of that, I _hope_ that you didn’t do what I think you did.

 

**PERSON A:** I never undermine expectations, especially those of weaklings like you.

 

**PERSON C:** Oh no.

 

**ALERT!**

**PRE-RECORDED FEED OF BASE A-3 HAS BEEN PAUSED**

 

**OPENING HIGH-RANKED REPORT…**

_SUBCATEGORY:_ EX

 

**WARNING:** ANY SENSITIVE INFORMATION THAT YOU WRITE WILL BE ENCRYPTED INSTANTLY IN ORDER TO PROTECT THIS FILE IN CASE OF EXTERNAL INTERFERENCE. DO NOT BE ALARMED.

 

**PROCEEDING...**

 

_REASON FOR REPORT:_ INSTABILITY BETWEEN MEMBERS OF BASE A-3

 

**PROFFERED SOLUTION** : Increased observation os members of Base A-3 due to high tensions between the members. These tensions could affect their functionality, and this base is one of the most functional. The breakdown here could cause increased breakdown within the organization. [REDACTED] and [REDACTED] in particular are the main source of tension. [REDACTED] is attempting to act as a mediator, but their methods of maintaining peace constantly fall flat. Combine that with the problem of [REDACTED]’s familial connections and [REDACTED]’s preconceived notions, and the source of the conflict is obvious. Action should be taken swiftly, especially with regards to the [REDACTED] incident. Some mediation might be needed in the case of [REDACTED] and [REDACTED], for they did not know about the proposal which [REDACTED] made to the [REDACTED]. This instability could lead to the potential or failure of Project [REDACTED], and that will be extremely detrimental. [REDACTED] and [REDACTED] might need some A-rank re-education if their resistance continues.

 

**SENDING REPORT…**

 

**REPORT IS SENT.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Grammarly, yes, I mean "PERSON A," not "PERSONA."


	35. Chapter 35

_CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE_

Junko was often bored. Being a succubus was awesome, don’t get her wrong. It was so easy to get what she wanted, whether it was a person or a thing, and it was absolutely delightful to devise various methods of getting what she wanted.

 

However, after a while, things started getting boring. And as a result, she either caused a bit of chaos or waited for the world to give her something exciting.

 

She’d gone to bed late on purpose the night before, vaguely hoping that it could act as a catalyst that would help something exciting to happen, whether overnight or the next day. And as a random change, she’d prayed in order to attempt and fuel it further.

 

Apparently, God also paid attention to the prayers of demons, because she’d just jolted awake with an intense feeling that something had happened.

 

A quick self-cleansing spell and a hasty clothing spell later, and she was racing down the halls, filled with excitement as she let her instincts lead her to the source of the disruption. Something  _ truly  _ exciting was happening, and she’d be damned to heaven before she’d miss it!

 

Nothing interesting would get away from the sights of Junko Enoshima! Not in the past, not now and not  _ ever _ !

 

She didn’t care about using some of her supernatural speed in order to get to the place quickly; anything interesting could be counted as an emergency, so she had a valid excuse.

 

Her sprinting let her to one of the most-used paths in the school, and she scanned the area, and soon found the odd thing out.

 

Makoto Naegi was passed out in the grass nearby, and it was a good thing that the pathway was deserted. Because his incubus features were on full display, with no cloaking spell of any sort activated.

 

Junko stopped near him and frowned. She cast an invisibility spell over both of them and pondered the situation. Makoto was well-fed, so exhaustion and hunger were ruled out as a potential cause to this. 

 

And the probability of him suddenly getting drained overnight was highly unlikely. If something interesting like that had happened overnight, she would have woken up and checked it out.

 

So it was easy to conclude that whatever had caused this was magical in nature. Not only that, but it was likely that whatever had caused this was nearby. In fact, it might actually be…

 

Junko’s hand darted out quickly, and her hand grasped something in the grass. She brought it up to her face so she could observe it, and immediately noticed two things about it.

 

One, it wasn’t created to cause much harm apart from knocking people out. Two, it seemed to be some sort of information-collecting device. It didn’t seem to be created with the capability of using visual means to collect information, but that didn’t make it harmless. In fact, that made it more threatening.

 

Tracking down mana signatures could be as effective as using someone’s image to locate them. It could be even more accurate, since visuals could be confused with cloaking spells, not to mention duplicate spells.

 

Getting back to the point, she had to destroy the thing as quickly as possible to avoid any more possible nonsense. It was probably having a hard time figuring out her own aura, and she wasn’t about to let it get a headway.

 

She tossed it onto the pathway and stomped on it as harshly as she could, until it was broken into pieces. It dissolved into mana quickly, and it speedily blended into the general mana pool already in the school.

 

Now that  _ that  _ was taken care of, she had an Ultimate Lucky Student to take care of… 

 


	36. Chapter 36

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Byakuya feels worried.

_ CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX _

Byakuya was worried.

 

He hadn’t seen Makoto all day, and for some reason, the Ultimate Lucky Student wasn’t responding to anyone’s messages.  _ Anyone’s  _ messages. Between him, Kyoko and everyone else in Class 78, Makoto’s phone must have been overflowing with unread messages and missed calls.

 

He hadn’t even been online since the day before, and he seemed to have no intention of coming back online anytime soon.

 

No one had seen him in person since yesterday, so the fact that he was suddenly offline wasn't exactly reassuring.

 

He’d found out that he wasn't the only one worrying about Makoto when Hina and Sakura asked if anyone had seen Makoto. Apparently, he hadn’t even shown up for their morning exercise routine.

 

As if that wasn’t worrying enough on its own, Junko of all people seemed to have disappeared. She was one of the more lax students at Hope’s Peak, and one of those with a talent that meant that they would miss classes a lot depending on what time of the year it was. Even so, it was still mildly suspicious, since she hadn’t said anything about there being a photo shoot coming up soon.

 

However, her case was more easily resolved. She was one of the more affluent and rebellious students, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if she’d just decided to leave the school and do something that she deemed worthwhile and exciting. Her easily-bored and fickle nature meant that she did things like that a lot.

 

Some people said that Makoto might be ill, or just not feel up to doing much. But even they said that they felt like it must have been a serious issue if Makoto had simply… disappeared on them like that.

 

Even though that was the most logical explanation for it, Byakuya couldn’t help but feel uneasy. He’d have to check on Makoto later; part of him knew that he wouldn’t be able to get rid of this irrational feeling until he did.

 

He really hoped that Makoto was alright… 


	37. Chapter 37

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Makoto wakes up. He's disoriented.

_ CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN _

When Makoto woke up, he felt _exhausted_. He groaned, trying to fall back asleep. Waking up wouldn’t do him any good if he was this tired, would it…? What time was it, anyway? Would it still be worth it for him to bother going to class? Was it even morning anymore? If it wasn’t, had he missed meeting up with Sakura and Hina? His thoughts were swirling around in his head, and he just wanted them to stop.

 

Part of him felt as if there was something he was forgetting, but he didn’t feel like he’d be able to remember it. Especially if he was this tired…

 

He rolled over, fidgeting a little bit in order to get into a comfy position, and tried to get back to sleep. Something about the sheets felt a little strange, but he could hardly be bothered to open his eyes and discover it. That felt like too much work...

 

Right when he felt he was about to fall back asleep, he felt someone shake his shoulder.

 

“No… ‘m sleepy,” he barely managed to say, clutching the sheets as tightly as he could and squeezing his eyes shut.

 

“Yeah, you probably are,” someone said. “But if you keep doing that, you might rip the sheets of this bed! The beds in the nurse’s office are designed for humans, after all.”  Something about their voice seemed familiar... and something seemed a bit strange about what they were saying.

 

Now that he was actually processing things, he noted that the voice was feminine. And the person had been saying something about the...nurse's office? What were they talking about?

 

Before he could try and fully articulate what he wanted to say, the person who was talking sighed. “Just open your eyes, Makoto. Things will make a lot more sense if you do.”

 

Alright, then. He didn't seem to have much of a choice, and he wasn't really complaining. That, and even though he was tired, it would be more energy-draining to continue being confused. So he opened his eyes.

 

Then he almost fell off the bed when he fully registered what he saw.

 

He  _ was  _ in the nurse’s office, and Junko was there with him. Not only was she there with him, but her  _ appearance _ … 

 

…

 

She was a succubus. 

 

Her scales were the light gray-blue of her eyes, and they were a little more thickly layered than Makoto would have expected. Most of the time, scales started emerging from the skin of an incubus or succubus around the mid-thigh or knee area, but Junko’s seemed to go somewhat past that. As far as he could see, her arms and legs were almost completely covered in scales. The more scales a demon had on their body, the more powerful they ended up being. Plus, the fact that he couldn’t see the place where her scales faded into flesh even though she was wearing her regular outfit was… more than a little unsettling.

 

Ordinarily, he shouldn't be able to see this. However, for some reason, she'd decided to squat on a bed close to his, and since she was facing him, it was taking him a little effort to not look as if he was deliberately trying to stare up her skirt. Whatever the case, from what he _could_ see, her scales seemed to be a bit more plentiful than most.

 

Her wings were spread, and whether it was to show off that her wingspan was larger than one would expect or if it was to help her keep her balance, he couldn’t tell.

 

(As if her horns weren't intimidating enough on their own... They curved outward from behind her ears, and they seemed to be sharp.)

 

Her arms were crossed, although she didn’t seem angry. If her claws hadn’t been so sharp, Makoto supposed that he’d feel less uneasy. It wasn’t as if she was going to attack him or anything, but the fact that he’d just woken up  _ in the nurse’s office,  _ combined with the fact that she’d decided to take up that particular position, was creeping him out.

 

 

Her tail, which had been still the entire time, twitched suddenly, and he jolted backward a bit.

 

Makoto’s eyes went staring at Junko’s arms to her face, and he saw that she had a small smile on her face. He also noted that her pupils were heart-shaped. 

 

“I’m glad to see that you’re not completely out of it,” she said. “I’m guessing you don’t know why you’re here?”

 

Makoto shook his head, still too stunned to speak.

 

“It’s because I found you passed out on one of the pathways in the school. Your camouflage spell was down, too. I didn’t get the chance to observe the device that caused it properly, but it doesn’t seem to have done any damage.”

 

As she said that, a few snapshots of memory came back to him. He remembered getting up… feeling tired… walking outside…

 

But he couldn’t remember more than that. 

 

He gulped, feeling a bit bemused at the distinct lack of saliva in his mouth. “I… I don’t remember everything, but… I. Um. You’re telling the truth, I think.” Talking felt a bit difficult, and he swore that he could feel a headache coming on.

 

Junko frowned. “Are you feeling okay?”

 

“I… not completely, no…”

 

Junko opened her mouth to say something, then she turned toward the door. Makoto could hear someone coming.

 

Wait.

 

Someone was coming, and he was--!

 

“She’s one of us, don’t worry,” Junko said. “And she’s coming alone.”

 

Before Makoto could ask his classmate about what she was talking about, the door opened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm hoping the descriptions aren't too long or out of place.


	38. Chapter 38

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mikan attempts to not have a crisis.

_ CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT _

Mikan didn’t know where it had all gone wrong.

 

The entire day had seemed normal at first glance. Normal classes, normal nurse duties, normal interactions with people... normal  _everything_.

 

And then she’d left the nurse’s office to take a quick bathroom break, and came back to see not one, but _two_ sex demons who had somehow taken residence there within the… five or so minutes that she’d used to leave.

 

And they were both from Class 78.

 

Makoto Naegi, the younger Ultimate Lucky Student and Junko Enoshima, the Ultimate Fashionista.

 

When she opened the door, she’d had to resist the urge to slam it shut immediately. Instead, she forced herself to walk in, close the door, activate the magical mechanism she'd placed on it, take a good look at what was going on, and ask, “What happened?”

 

All while her heart felt as if it was beating so quickly and intensely that she felt as if it was trying to wrench itself out of her chest and launch itself halfway across the room.

 

Makoto had looked as if she’d poured ice-water over him, and looked at Junko helplessly. Junko, in turn, had simply explained everything without any further prompting.

 

By the time Junko had finished telling her just how she’d found Makoto, Mikan had felt as if she wanted to collapse onto the floor. If he’d been knocked out by a device like  _ that _ , that could mean that all of the incubi and succubi in Hope’s Peak were in danger.

 

It was obvious that the device had been planted by some sort of group of demon hunters. Whether they hunted all sorts of demons or just sex demons didn’t matter; it meant that they were all in danger of getting abducted and forcefully cast back into Hell. And that was if they were the popular sort of demon hunters.

 

She’d heard through the grapevine that there were a few groups who were no longer content with just that. Some of them took to torturing the demons they captured, sometimes for the sheer sadism of it, other times to try and get information out of them. Whatever the case, it could end up turning into an ordeal that was nigh-impossible to escape from, one that could last for  _ months _ .

 

All Mikan could do was hope to Satan that it wasn’t one of those torture-focused groups that had its sights on Hope’s Peak.

 

But hope wouldn’t be able to do anything in this situation. Not only that, but collapsing out of fear wouldn’t do anything good either. So she told herself to calm down and set about making sure that Makoto would be okay.

 

The fact that he had a little difficulty speaking would be worrying if it had come out of nowhere, but she suspected that the device had something to do with it. Demons were stronger than humans, so whenever humans captured demons, they had to make sure that the demons were at a disadvantage.

 

Regular human sedatives didn’t work on them, but if they were enhanced with magic or even completely based on anti-demon magic, they could be dangerously effective when utilized effectively.

 

From what she could tell, whatever was used on Makoto was relatively weak, and its side-effect would go away with enough rest. However, in order to make sure there were no further side-effects, she wanted to make sure he stayed in the infirmary.

 

“That makes sense,” Junko said. 

 

Makoto shrugged, seeming to be alright with it. He looked as if he was going to fall asleep soon.

 

“The problem is that I don’t know how strong his mana flow usually is,” Mikan said. “So I have to go off of an average. It seems to be stabilizing, but I don’t know if there could be any further side-effects.”

 

“I’d hope not,” Junko said, holding her hands akimbo. “I didn’t think that it drained him of energy at first, but it seems to be that way. Either that, it there was some sort of energy-dampening spell mixed in.”

 

“That’s a high possibility. It’s also why I want to try something. Makoto, if anything feels uncomfortable, tell me.”

 

He nodded.

 

Mikan placed one of her hands on his chest and the other on his head, then started reciting a cleansing incantation. She felt the magic flow through her, blooming within her chest and flowing out toward her arms, flowing down to her hands and finally going through to Makoto himself.

 

The only outward sign of the spell she was casting, apart from her reciting the incantation, was a soft red glow coming from her hands. When she was finished, Makoto sighed, looking a little more comfortable than he had before.

 

That was good.

 

“Y-You can go to sleep if you want; it might help you feel better,” she told Makoto. 

 

“...m’kay…” Something told her that he’d have gone to sleep anyway, but it felt necessary.

 

As he started falling asleep, Mikan turned to Junko. “I… have a lot of questions.”

 

“That’s understandable,” Junko said, her tone too cheery for the situation.

 

“But I don’t want to ask them without someone else here… so… u-um, can you disguise yourself and go tell Hajime that there are…” Mikan had to steady herself before completing the sentence. “... new bats in the attic?”

 

Junko’s eyes widened, and she snickered. “That’s the code you two agreed to use?”

 

“Yes… is there a problem?”

 

“Nope! It’s just funny, especially when you look at our wings…”

 

“That was the main reason we decided to use it.”

 

“That’s practical. I like it!” Junko cast a disguise spell on herself and started making her way out of the door. “See you later, Mikan!”


	39. Chapter 39

_ CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE _

Hajime couldn’t shake off the feeling that something was about to go wrong. He had absolutely no reason to think that way, but he found himself feeling like that, regardless of what his common sense was telling him.

 

Today had been… nice. Not too stressful, not too easy, but not overwhelming. He’d talked to Shuuichi a bit earlier, and he’d been glad to find out that the younger incubus seemed to be doing well for himself. 

 

He’d seen Kazuichi earlier, but the Ultimate Mechanic had seemed a bit skittish and irritable, barely sparing him a glance. He’d heard him muttering about “someone being too nosy for their own good” before looking around the hallway and speed-walking away.

 

(He hoped that Kazuichi was okay…)

 

His classes had gone well, and homework didn’t seem to be trying to kill him for once, so he felt that he was having a good day. He didn't have much to do right now, so he decided that he'd go and do his homework before anything else. It wouldn't take long. Maybe he was just being paranoid? He hoped so.

 

So here he was, minding his own business, walking through the familiar halls of Hope's Peak. People were conversing and walking around, and everything seemed normal.

 

Then he felt someone poke his back. 

 

He turned around, and came face-to-face with Junko Enoshima, the Ultimate Fashionista,  a student in Class 78.

 

She had a broad smile on her face, and it didn’t leave even as she spoke. “Mikan told me to tell you something!”

 

Hajime felt as if a bucket of cold water had been unceremoniously dumped onto his head. This didn't seem to bode very well for him... “What did she tell you?”

 

“She said, ‘can you go and tell Hajime that there are new bats in the attic’? Not exactly, but that’s the gist of it.”

 

Hajime breathed in sharply. “She’s in the nurse’s office, right?”

 

“Mm-hmm!”

 

“Thanks for telling me.”

 

“Oh, and one more thing.”

 

“What?”

 

“I’m one of the bats.”


	40. Chapter 40

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hajime is bamboozled.

_ CHAPTER FORTY _

The world seemed to have stopped, and everything apart from the person in front of him seemed to fade into temporary nonexistence.

 

(Of all the ways the day could have gone wrong, it chose  _this_...?)

 

Hajime felt as if he’d been punched in the stomach. He knew that there was no reason for him to feel this way; there was a large chance that Junko was just joking, that she didn’t know what she was saying. 

 

She was just trying to get a reaction out of him. She had to be. None of this added up, none of his made sense… and even if she  _ was  _ a succubus, wouldn't she at least have had the discretion to  _ not  _ reveal herself in a public place? Code-speak or not, some risks were just…

 

...too great to even think about, thoughtless of actually take.

 

He glared at her, looking at her straight in the eyes, trying to figure out just  _ what  _ she was trying to get at. 

 

She responded with a glare of her own, and her stance didn’t waver.

 

“Do you know the meaning of what you just said?” he asked her. Truthfully, it was less “asking” her and more “hissing” at her.

 

“Yes.” And as if that wasn’t damning enough, she smiled. “Got a problem with that?”

 

“I have around ten, actually.”

 

“What a pity. Mikan’s waiting, you know. We can discuss that somewhere that’s not as public. Besides, people are staring.”

 

“No thanks to you.”

 

“Well, people  _ do  _ find me attractive…”

 

“Very funny. We should start going before Mikan starts worrying.”

 

“I concur.”

 

And with that, they started making their way to Mikan’s office.


	41. Chapter 41

_ CHAPTER FORTY-ONE _

Never before had Hajime felt so on edge while walking.

 

It was something about Junko herself that was making him unsettled, but for some reason, he couldn’t pinpoint what it was.

 

It wasn’t her footsteps, even though they seemed a lot louder and intrusive than they should have been. It wasn’t even anything she was  _ doing _ , because for whatever reason, she’d decided to trail behind him instead of beside him or in front of him.

 

He wasn’t what he’d call a paranoid person, but something about Junko was making him feel on edge.

 

Something about her seemed to have changed after that little altercation they’d had in the halls. It wasn’t something that he could describe well, but it felt like her very  _ presence  _ had changed.

 

In any other situation, the sound of her footsteps behind him wouldn’t make him feel so on edge, but now? They made him feel as if he was walking on eggshells.

 

It wasn’t unheard of for demons to have auras that contrasted heavily with their personalities or appearances, but it was one thing to have theoretical knowledge of that, and another to encounter it firsthand.

 

Some demons could do this deliberately, and if he was being honest, he wasn’t sure if this was Junko’s natural, unhidden aura, or if she was just messing with him. He couldn’t exactly ask her, and since he barely knew her, it wouldn’t make much sense for him to try and decipher something he’d had no prior experience with.

  
He just hoped that Mikan would be able to explain just  _ what  _ had happened to cause this...


	42. Chapter 42

_ CHAPTER FORTY-TWO _

Reaching the infirmary was a relief.

 

The information that he learned while in it, however, was far from relieving. By the time Mikan had finished explaining what Junko had told her, Hajime felt as if his stomach had either dropped into his shoes or teleported itself out of his abdominal cavity.

 

Some of the worst kinds of demon hunters had decided to target Hope’s Peak, of all places? 

 

The fact that it was Makoto who had gotten targeted was bad, but what was worse was that it was just random chance. If things had turned out just a little bit differently, it could have been another one of their kind who would have accidentally activated the device and gotten knocked out. 

 

And maybe the person wouldn’t have been fortunate enough to have someone find them before anything bad happened.

 

Whatever the case, Hajime was happy that Makoto was getting taken care of. The only remaining problem was that…

 

...demons tended to be solitary creatures when they weren't in their native circles of Hell. No one wanted to draw attention to themselves, and the fact that humans had lost their belief in the supernatural was something that many of them were grateful for.

 

Unless you happened to be a powerful demon, you wouldn’t try looking around for others deliberately. Fights and disagreements could have semi-disastrous consequences, and as time went on, even minor disputes could be a problem. 

 

The best thing to do in a situation like the one they were getting forced into was to warn all the demons in the school. But thanks to the often-solitary nature of demons, they couldn’t.

 

If they didn’t have any sort of communication between themselves, they could be picked off easily. One by one, they could have the metaphorical wool pulled over their eyes by the demon hunters, and it could range from what had happened to Makoto that day to straight-up kidnapping.

 

And depending on what organization it was, that could be the next course of action.

 

Hajime knew that it had probably been a bad idea to voice all of these concerns, but for the life of him, he hadn’t been able to help it.

 

Neither Junko nor Mikan looked all that thrilled about it. Mikan, in particular, looked as if she was barely holding back the urge to throw up. Junko had an unreadable expression on her face, but with how tense her body language was, he knew that she wasn’t all that comfortable with this either.

 

Just when the air in the room felt as if it was going to fall down on them from the tension, Junko spoke up.

 

“As much as I’d like to say that you’re preaching about the doomsday a couple of thousand years too early, you have a point,” she said. “Finding out who’s a sex demon and who isn’t one is probably the best thing we could do.”

 

“B-But how?” Mikan asked. “Hajime and I only knew about each other by accident… and, well…” she gestured to Makoto, who was still asleep. “A-Any form of direct c-confrontation has… a lot of risks.”

 

“You have a point there,” Hajime said. He wondered what Junko was trying to get at.

 

She snapped her fingers, and a few magical sparks floated in the air for a few seconds. “We can use magic to find others like us, of course. Like what happened earlier today, but not for nefarious purposes.”

 

Hajime frowned. And just  _ how  _ do you intend to do that without making the mana drain noticeable? Not to mention the fact that something that complex would definitely take a while.”

 

“Well, it’s not like we could straight-up follow people and try to guess from their behavior, now could we? That sort of thing takes a long time because you have to rule out all sorts of coincidences. This would make things quicker and easier in the long-run.”

 

“I’m not saying that that isn’t true, but how would we be able to pull that off? Mikan’s specialized in healing spells, and my spellcasting is… pretty average.”

 

Junko smiled. “Well, isn’t it lucky that I have a spellbook, then? Because to pull this off, we’re going to need to tack on an identification spell to it so we don’t run the risk of making serious mistakes.”

 

“Y-You… have a spellbook? O-On campus?” Mikan looked shocked. “Isn’t that r-risky?”

 

Junko shrugged. “It’s concealed pretty well, there’s nothing to worry about when it comes to that.”

 

Hajime looked at her, and wondered if it had been a bad idea that they hadn’t bothered taking off their disguises. No normal demon would just… be comfortable with saying all of this. Either Junko knew more than she was letting on about the situation, or she was more powerful than her appearance suggested.

 

Or worse, both.

 

“Well, at least we’re not going into this completely blind,” he said.

 

“Your optimism is astounding,” Junko said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “C’mon! Do we have any other choice right now?”

 

“...no. But that doesn’t mean things are going to be easy. There’s going to be a lot of preparation involved, you know.” Even with his limited knowledge of intricate magecraft, he knew that things would be… far from easy, even if this was more efficient.

 

“At worst, it should all be finalized in something around three weeks. If the hunters cold afford to send a preliminary scanning device, they’re probably not going to rear in for another attack immediately, don’t you think?” Junko asked.

 

“W-Well… you have a point,” Mikan said. “But it still makes me feel nervous.”

 

“At least we have a plan, though,” Junko said. 

 

“Mm-hmm.”

 

“So how are we going to manage things? We should figure out that first before we start anything more in-depth.”


End file.
